Why 125+ CFOs have resigned in Q1. Hint: it’s personal

The sudden resignation last Monday of Mastek Ltd’s CFO Raghavendra Jha, barely a month into the job, is the latest in a string of such departures. In a one-line email addressed to the company’s chief executive, Jha said he was putting in his papers due to personal reasons, without providing any other detail.

Such exits have cast doubts about corporate governance and regulatory compliance. When a listed company’s key managerial personnel, including CFOs, resign, they are required to provide a detailed reason for their departure, as per the listing obligations and disclosure requirements of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Experts said the KMPs are merely ticking the box in terms of complying with this requirement by citing vague reasons when resigning.

“The abrupt resignation of key managerial personnel, especially CFOs, often signals deeper issues within a company,” said V. Balakrishnan, a former CFO at IT services major Infosys Ltd and founder of Exfinity Ventures, a venture capital fund. “While regulators require disclosure of resignation reasons, the frequent use of vague terms like ‘personal reasons’ has become a convenient cover.”

Balakrishnan pointed out that in several instances, irregularities at companies have surfaced shortly after such exits.

For example, Ankit Jain, the former CFO of Gensol Engineering, resigned in early March citing personal reasons and pursuit of other professional avenues as the reason for his departure. A month later, Sebi released its interim order against the company and its promoters, disclosing severe lapses in governance and diversion of funds.

Similarly, IndusInd Bank’s former CFO Gobind Jain’s resignation this January was followed in March by the bank disclosing that it had financial discrepancies of over ₹2,000 crore in its derivatives portfolio. Jain had cited personal travel to the US and pursuit of other career opportunities as the reason for his exit.

“This raises serious concerns and strengthens the case for Sebi to broaden the disclosure mandate,” said Balakrishnan. “The onus must be on the board to reconcile these stated reasons with any financial lapses discovered later, and to be held accountable for any oversight or complicity.”

Currently, Ankit Jain is the CFO of SB-Constantia Flexibles, a joint venture between Constantia, an Austrian firm, and SB Packagings, a Delhi-based packaging firm.

To be sure, in most cases when executives resign citing personal reasons, they end up joining a different firm. The pursuit of another career is the second most-cited reason for exits. However, experts say that the ambiguity created by this term allows even cases where there are serious issues at the firm to pass under the radar.

Shriram Subramanian, a corporate governance expert and managing director of proxy advisory firm InGovern, said boards need to be cognizant that they are working in the interest of shareholders. “If there is any other reason for the resignation like fraud or disciplinary action, they should disclose as much to the exchanges instead of letting it slide as ‘personal reason’,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mumbai-headquartered IT services company Mastek, which ended FY25 with $408.4 million in revenue and is valued at $890 million, said there were no governance concerns behind CFO Jha’s resignation in just over a month of joining. Jha did not respond toMint’s messages requesting comment.

“We are not happy with having two CFOs in the last six months; it creates a wrong impression,” said Ashank Desai, the company’s chairman. Last December, Arun Agarwal had resigned as CFO after serving in the role for just over four years.

“Mastek stands for the highest corporate governance. I can vouch for it,” said Desai, who co-founded the company in 1982.