Crunching numbers-and chocolate

"My job is somewhat like chess... it is about finding the right solutions to problems at the right time," says Rahul Murdeshwar. A highly-regarded CFO, at P&G, he was inducted into the Global CFO Circle in 2003, an exclusive club of P&G CFOs. His toughest moment was in 2008, when he and a colleague had to set up Hershey's venture with Godrej in India.

"Many people initially were not comfortable with SAP," he recalls. The SAP project had one goofy moment, when the management insisted that a priest fix the launch time. "The pandit-ji chose 10-10.30 am on a Monday—and precisely at that time, there was a glitch…With just five minutes of the "golden moment" left, we finally managed to wake up a colleague in the US and sorted it out… I laugh now when I think of it, but I wasn't laughing then," he recalls.

A topper most of his life, he doesn't want to settle for anything less than the best. "I have a lot to learn… But if I am offered the top job, I would be happy to accept the challenge," he says.

Rahul Murdeshwar, 37, CFO, Godrej Hershey

• EDUCATION: CA (top one per cent)
• EXPERIENCE: Three years in Hershey's, before that 12 years in P&G.