Muralikrishnan Gopalaratnam
Murali, CEO and founder of Ujwal, comes with more then 20 years of post-qualification experience in the field of accounting, finance and taxation. Murali, founded Ujwal in 1995 with the main objective of taking over the responsibility of running the entire Finance and Accounts functions of clients. Under Murali's stewardship, Ujwal started providing accounting outsourcing services to many manufacturing companies in India, before its shift in focus, in the late nineties, to the IT sector .
The first companies to have got Ujwal's financial expertise was Aztec Software and Technology Services Limited , where, in the course of time, Murali went on to become the CFO, and was also involved with Ujwal as its Non-Executive Director. He was responsible for the successful completion of Aztec's IPO in 2000. After running the finance function at Aztec for more than three years, Murali went on to head their BFSI business unit. It was then he felt the need to to return to Ujwal and since then he has been responsible for creating a process-driven, customer-oriented environment at Ujwal.
Ujwal’s clients – particularly early stage companies – benefit greatly from Murali’s experience and expertise in areas like capital structuring, fund raising, formulation and implementation of control policies and taxation. Under Murali’s leadership, Ujwal’s size of operations – measured by revenues, number of customers and number of employees – has grown at a CAGR of more than 100% over the past three years.
S.K. Kantharaj
Kantharaj co-heads the Delivery segment at Ujwal Management Services Limited and has co-pioneered the accounting outsourcing model in India, along with Murali. A qualified Chartered Accountant, Kantharaj took over the mantle at Ujwal, when Murali was the CFO at Aztec Software, and has nurtured Ujwal and has played a key role in bringing Ujwal up to its current standing.
Kantharaj brings with him an experience of working with startups, being on the management teams of many such ventures. He has also managed the finance and accounting setups of overseas subsidiaries of Indian companies which has given him a thorough understanding of the finance/compliances needs of a global technology corporation setting up a subsidiary in India; something that he leverages to the fullest in delighting Ujwal’s customers with high quality services. Kantharaj – along with Shankar – has been responsible for building the Ujwal delivery team from less than ten people to around 70 people over the past three years.
H.K. Sudhindra
Sudhindra oversees the Sales and Marketing functions at Ujwal. Sudhindra brings in more than eight years of experience, predominantly ,in the fields of Corporate Finance, Treasury Management and IT enabled services. Prior to Ujwal, he was working with Aztec Software and Technology Services Limited as a Business Analyst where he had successfully set up an offshore professional services organization for one of Aztec's customers in the budgeting/forecasting space and has won encomiums from the customer for his commendable work.
Apart from his main responsibility, Sudhindra also assists Ujwal’s customers with various aspects of fund raising like development of business plans. He has driven a CAGR of more than 100% in Ujwal’s revenues over the past three years.
Sudhindra holds a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Sankara Narayanan
Shankar co-heads the delivery organization at Ujwal. He started his career with Ujwal in 1997. He joined the finance team at Aztec Software and Technology Services Limited in 2000-01. At Aztec, Shankar single-handedly ran the accounting setup of Aztec's wholly-owned subsidiary in the US, Aztec Software, Inc. Shankar moved back to Ujwal in 2003.
Shankar’s stint at Aztec Software, Inc. helped him develop a deep understanding of the accounting and reporting requirements of US corporations. He utilises this experience in ensuring that Ujwal’s customers always get exactly the kind of reports they need on time. Shankar’s ability to take up diverse challenges – some that may not fall fully within the realms of accounting – has led to customer delight, contributing in no small measure to the growth Ujwal has seen over the past three years.
