CFO of the Year, Financial Pride of India, and a Fellowship Abroad: The Quiet Rise of Kulamani Biswal

Awards say something about what an industry values. In public-sector energy, where results come slowly and financial decisions play out over decades, the people who win them are often those who do careful work without much publicity. Kulamani Biswal’s record fits that description.

During his years as Director (Finance) of NTPC Limited, he collected recognition from industry bodies, business media and an international academic organisation. Together, the honours trace a career that rose steadily rather than suddenly.

The first was a “CFO of the Year” title. He received it from EPC World, with E&Y as knowledge partner, at a function in New Delhi. For a finance executive, that title carries particular weight, because it recognises the discipline of the role and not just the size of the company.

Another followed in 2015. He was conferred the GSBA-Top Rankers Excellence Award, “Financial Pride of India”, in the Best Finance Professional category at an event in New Delhi. NTPC’s announcement described him as known for financial acumen, an up-to-date knowledge base and a gift for business networking.

A third honour came from the business press. BT-STAR named him PSU Director Finance of the Year in the Maharatna and Navratna category, citing his diligence, best practices and contributions to financial management. The Maharatna and Navratna companies are among the largest and best-run state enterprises, so the competition was serious.

The recognition then extended beyond India. In October 2015 he was inducted as an honorary Fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Sciences at the XVIIth World Productivity Congress in Halifax, Canada. The fellowship acknowledged his contribution to productivity across the power chain, from NTPC and Coal India to the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Awards are easier to understand when set beside the results behind them. NTPC reported that under his leadership its cost of debt fell to 7.81 percent a year, a figure it said many in the industry would envy. That number was probably the strongest argument for the honours that followed.

It matters because power generation is capital-intensive. Plants take years to build and decades to repay, so even small differences in the cost of borrowing add up to very large sums over the life of a project. Lowering the cost of debt is one of the most valuable things a finance chief can do.

The skills behind it were built over a long career. He started at Coal India Limited in 1985, joined the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission at Director level in 1997, and became Chief (Finance) at the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in 2004. Each step added something to his understanding of how the sector’s money works.

In 2010 he returned to the coal sector as a company director. At Mahanadi Coalfields Limited he was Director (Finance) from October 2010, managing finance, accounting and corporate governance. Press coverage at the time credited him with a pivotal role in making MCL the second largest coal company in India by production and profitability.

In December 2013 he moved to NTPC as Director (Finance), at age 52, with about 28 years of experience in the coal and power sectors. The awards that followed came after that long apprenticeship, which is part of why his rise looks quiet.

His responsibilities were not confined to one balance sheet. He served as a non-executive director of PTC India Limited from 2015 to 2017 and chaired NTPC-Tamilnadu Energy Company and Meja Urja Nigam. Those roles gave him a view across generation, trading and joint-venture finance.

Awards also have limits. They honour individuals, but the results behind them belong to teams. A finance function works with engineers, planners, lenders and regulators, and a figure like 7.81 percent is the product of an institution’s credibility as much as one executive’s skill.

His work did not end with NTPC. He served as an independent director of Ansal Properties & Infrastructure from June 2021 to January 2023. Experience of that kind is useful to boards in any sector.

The word “quiet” suits Kulamani Biswal’s career. He rose through coal companies, regulators and a power giant without the public profile that often goes with senior office. The recognition he received, at home and abroad, was a late acknowledgement of work that had been steady all along.

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