Suresh BabuKonakanchi

Suresh Viswanathan is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and a Certificated Associate of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. With an experience spanning nearly four decades in the BFSI Sector (Banking, Financial Services, Insurance),

he has been a Banker for 10 years, Investment Banker for 15 years and also Head of Compliance for 10 years (including a Bank, Mutual Fund, Stock Broker, Insurance Broker, Portfolio Manager, NBFC, Money Changer, Primary Dealer), and for the last 10 years he is a consulting professional to many regulated entities.

In July 2005, he became an Executive Director at Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), where he handled the Investment Management Department (mutual funds, venture capital funds and foreign venture capital investors), Corporate Debt Department, Economic and Policy Analysis Department, Office of Investor Assistance and Education and Surveillance. In March 2010, he joined Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) as Member (Finance and Investment).

During his tenure he ushered in new investment and accounting regulations for the life insurance and general insurance sectors. He was also involved in framing the new regulatory architecture for Unit Linked Insurance Plans and also chaired the committee on implementing IFRS and the new corporate governance framework for insurers.

He thus has special knowledge and practical experience in, inter alia, accountancy, agriculture and rural economy, banking, co-operation, economics, finance, law, insurance, small scale industry, payment & settlement systems, human resources, risk management and business management.

Highlights of Sridhar’s work experience include,

(i) As a Director on the Board, turned around a loss making a BSE and NSE listed auto-ancillary company and helped them to grow from ₹320 crores to ₹650 crores in 4 years,

(ii) As a part of a leading debt restructuring advisory firm, sourced, and actively advised various companies across India to resolve debts aggregating to ₹18,000 crores through corporate debt restructuring (CDR) across various sectors,

(iii) Successfully restructured ₹320 crores of debt under corporate debt restructuring (CDR) and turned the Company into operational profits within 12 months of debt restructuring. Achieved deeply discounted settlement of FCCB debt in India along with CDR,

(iv) Lead role in restructuring strategy formulation of US$ 1.00 billion in Chemical and Textile business, Indonesia after Asian Currency Crisis,

(v) Implemented a US$ 65 million large textile project in Southern Africa that was delayed by 3 years and saved US$ 10 million and achieved US$ 1.1 million operating profit within the first 12 months,

(vi) Initiated South Africa’s first “Human Asset Development” centers thereby implementing affirmative action and trained over 1,000 employees across the group,

(vii) Turned around and helped to grow a loss-making Hong Kong apparel company with a profit of US$ 1 million within the first 12 months of take over.

Sridhar’s first book “End of Saamba Dance”, a business and a financial thriller fiction quickly rose to popularity in the business and financial community and won the Best Author’s Award 2021 by Navi Mumbai Chamber of Business & Industries.