Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABDL), India’s third-largest spirits company, has appointed Anil Somani as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Somani will succeed Ramakrishnan Ramaswamy, who has been a key member of the leadership team for nearly 15 years.
Prior to this, Somani was associated with Bata India as its chief financial officer and director finance, having joined the company in the April 2023. At Bata, Somani played a crucial role in enhancing the company’s financial performance by implementing a robust performance-management system aligned with its strategic vision.
Somani has held key positions at several renowned brands such as Reliance Retail, Infiniti Retail (Croma), Walmart India, Metro Cash and Carry India, and CC Chokshi. During these stints, he has been recognised for driving profitable growth, optimising business processes, improving supply-chain efficiencies, and leading transformative finance and technology initiatives.
Somani brings over 32 years of experience in finance roles across multiple sectors, including manufacturing, retail and the Big Four firms. Being a qualified chartered accountant, his expertise lies in strategy and financial management, internal controls, ERP implementation, digital transformation, treasury, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions and private equity funding. He is also a certified SAP FICO Consultant and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), with a history of successful ERP implementations in both multinational corporations and Indian promoter-driven organisations.
Alok Gupta, managing director, ABDL, expressed confidence in Somani’s ability to contribute to the company’s strategic goals. “His extensive expertise in financial management and transformative finance will be instrumental towards contributing to achieve our strategic goals. With his business acumen of driving financial excellence and operational efficiency, we are confident that he will enable in enhancing our business performance and processes and supporting our growth trajectory,” he added.
Commenting on his new role, Anil Somani expressed his enthusiasm on joining ABDL, stating “I look forward to collaborating with the team to enhance our financial performance and strengthen our position in the market.”
