Al & ML: Catalyst & Facilitator for the Finance Function

Ridhi Gangar - Chief Financial Officer, Tata Motors Finance, reveals technology-led initiatives to enhance the finance function:

- Ravi Lalwani

Ravi Lalwani: What were the most significant cost differentiations identified in terms of business, particularly during the pandemic?

Ridhi Gangar: The pandemic, despite being devastating and brutal, does have a silver lining. On the plus side, the cost to income, which is a critical parameter for NBFCs, improved as we implemented digital initiatives and invested in developing digital platforms. This helped us improve efficiency while allowing people to work from home. These implementations also substantially lowered the cost of infrastructure, travel, and other overhead expenses.

A significant step was having a very strong digital engagement process with all stakeholders. It wasn't enough to just have work done; keeping stakeholders bonded and engaged with the larger team was a strong action area as well. And digital platforms stepped in to save the day by making it more cost-effective. A series of large-scale and small-scale online meets were conducted on regular basis to ensure the same.

What upgrades have been made in the accounting and finance software considering the pandemic-related issues? Were these done in-house or with the aid of partners?