Bharat Agrawal with multiple professional qualifications, sound technical and strong soft skills has diverse experience in the field of Accounting, Financial Management & Corporate Treasury. He is a passionate learner and always open to new challenges helping him achieve the “Professional Achiever – Oil and Gas sector Award” in 2014.” He has qualified as a Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary, Cost and Management Accountant (Finalist), and holds a Bachelors in Law and Legislations & Commerce.
A star of the future
This is a new award for 2015 and our inaugural winner is Bharat Agrawal who currently heads the treasury function of Castrol India Limited. Having a strong belief in continuous learning, Bharat has added a professional qualification or certification to his knowledge base almost every year. Bharat has a comprehensive knowledge base including finance, management accountancy, secretarial and companies act compliance and civil laws. It is his academic excellence and attitude towards career progression that our judges felt deserved recognition as the Treasury Today Asia Rising Star for 2015 – a Rising Star indeed.
For some professionals, having a strong belief in continuous learning is the way forward. Bharat Agrawal, Manager Treasury at Castrol India Limited, is such an individual. His dedication to personal enrichment has resulted in him adding a professional qualification or certification to his knowledge base almost every year. This has seen him develop a comprehensive understanding of finance, management accountancy, secretarial and companies act compliance and civil laws. It is his academic excellence and attitude towards career progression that the Adam Smith Award Asia judges felt deserved recognition as the Treasury Today Asia Rising Star for 2015.
Going the extra mile
Agrawal’s skills – and dedication to expanding them – are respected by his colleagues. Although he already holds a range of professional qualifications including:
Chartered Accountant
Company Secretary
Cost and Management Accountant (Finalist)
Bachelors in Law and Legislations (LLB) and Commerce (B.Com)
he continuously strives to achieve more, notes Yatin Narkar, General Manager, Finance, Castrol India Limited.
“These exams are not easy to crack but Bharat passes with flying colours while managing his full time job.”
Wining the Adam Smith Asia Award means a lot to me. It’s really a very big recognition and an incredible stage created by the Treasury Today group which motivates the good doers and becomes a source of inspiration for the entire industry.
Agrawal currently heads the treasury function of Castrol India Limited (part of BP Group), a market leader in the lubricants industry and is part of BP’s ‘Emerging Leader’ programme offered to employees exhibiting excellent performance and high potential.
It isn’t hard to see why he was chosen to be part of such a programme as his career achievements to date are extensive, including:
Leading the team for the consolidation of management information systems (MIS) and reporting for Sterlite Industries India within the first two years of his career.
Contribution to the profit model for Sterlite in complex business scenarios.
Recognition from the directors of BP India Services for leading and making enormous contributions to improving the way the company works.
Significant involvement in successful and timely delivery of Castrol India’s vital project on capital reduction. Leading the company’s milestone project to automate and integrate the entire revenue collection chain.
Most recently being awarded the title of ‘The Professional Achiever – Oil and Gas sector’ by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Taking just one example in more detail, Agrawal’s lead in automating the previous physical cheque collection process has been a great success. Castrol India reaches its consumers through a vast distribution network and retail outlets, and relied on a legacy solution before introducing automated clearing house (ACH) processing for the distributors and RTGS pay-outs for direct customers. The company integrated its ERP with its banking partner’s system to automate the entire process, from raising sales invoices to collection receipting. As of August this year, Castrol India collects around 75% of its revenue online, compared to minimal online collection last year.
But Agrawal’s professional achievements are by no means limited to the above. Indicative of a broader range of skills, he has achieved certifications through various training courses such as ‘Effective Working Capital Management’ and training on IFRS, as well as those that focus on ‘softer’ people skills including ‘the seven habits of highly effective people’ and ‘concepts of effective negotiation’.
Bharat Agrawal defines his key characteristics as:
Knowledge
Creativity
Dedication
Passion
Integrity
A future finance leader
“He is always willing to go out of his way and take on new initiatives,” says Narkar. “He took the lead to form the Chartered Accountants study circle in our office and ensures periodic learning sessions to help the continuous learning agenda for all finance members.”
What’s more, in the professional field he not only has “the uncanny habit of taking on challenges but also leading from the front to bring it to its logical conclusion,” says Manas Rajderkar, Manager Performance – GSC, at Castrol India. “In short, Bharat is a qualified individual backed with sound experience and he is a leader of the future, having all the ingredients for one day heading a finance function.”
Key learning points:
Keep yourself up to date with professional developments.
Expand your knowledge base.
Be creative and passionate in whatever you do. Be 100% dedicated and always put integrity first.
The Adam Smith Awards Asia is the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards-asia
