Best CFO Awards 2016-17 | All Set For The GST Era

Sunil Nalavadi is the CFO of VRL Logistics, one of the leading pan India surface logistics and parcel delivery service providers. He has been associated with the company since March 2005 when he joined as the chief accounts officer. He quickly climbed the ranks to become the CFO in 2010 and took charge of the finance, taxation and accounting functions of the company.

Nalavadi is proud to be part of a legendary company that was founded in 1976 by Vijay Sankeshwar in Gadag, then a small town in North Karnataka (now a district), with a single truck and a vision that was way ahead of its time. From its humble roots in Gadag, VRL gradually expanded its services to Bengaluru, Hubli and Belgaum, growing into a nationally renowned logistics and transport company, which is also currently the largest fleet owner of commercial vehicles in India with a fleet of 4,253 vehicles (including 381 passenger transport vehicles and 3,872 goods transport vehicles).

The company mainly provides less than truckload services (LTL) for general and priority parcels and caters to a broad range of industries like FMCG, textiles, apparel, furniture, metal and metal products, automotive parts, etc. VRL operates through a network of 1,024 branches and franchisees and this network is complemented by 48 strategically located transhipment hubs.

VRL also provides luxury bus services across high density urban commuter cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Panjim and also connect tier-2/3 cities. Their bus service network covers Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat as well as Rajasthan.

Nalavadi says one of his key achievements has been to change the philosophy of VRL Logistics from a promoter driven company to a professionally driven one. In line with that, under Nalavadi’s watchful eyes, the company achieved a significant milestone when its shares were listed on the BSE and NSE with effect from 30 April 2015.

During 2015-16, the company posted Rs 100 crore in net profit for the first time in history under the able leadership of Nalavadi. “Our cost reduction initiatives without compromising on quality, reduction in overall debt, and reduction in rate of interest of existing loans helped us achieve this,” he says. The company consolidated its bus operations as a result of which its Ebitda was at peak in comparison with the past. The net debt reduced from Rs 429 crore to Rs 273 crore.
During 2015-16, the company earned revenues of Rs 1,729.42 crore as against previous year’s revenues of Rs 1,678.86 crore depicting a growth of 3.01 per cent. Its net profit rose to Rs 102.31 crore as against Rs 91.22 crore in the previous year.

The company’s goods transport division achieved revenues of Rs 1,356.26 crore registering a year-on-year growth of 5.08 per cent. The company earned revenues of Rs 317.61 crore from the bus division and Rs 21.39 crore from the sale of power generated through the windmills owned by the company.

Nalavadi says VRL has been a frontrunner in adopting all changes in the ecosystem ranging from demonetisation to GST. “We are 100 per cent prepared to embrace GST and be compliant,” he says.