Driving Growth and Financial Innovation in Healthcare : Prashant Goenka

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Prashant Goenka, Group CFO at NephroPlus, speaks to Corporate World about navigating the complexities of global financial management while driving strategic business expansion

The Group CFO at NephroPlus, Prashant Goenka is steering the company’s financial strategy while driving growth across global operations. An MBA graduate from the Chicago Booth School of Business, he brings two decades of experience at HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, and Bank of America, having managed multi-million-dollar budgets and led diverse teams across the USA, India, and the Philippines.

At NephroPlus, Goenka has built finance functions that combine accountability, transparency, and technology, transforming everyday financial operations into strategic tools for growth. His approach emphasizes ROCE-accretive expansion, strategic capital allocation, and leveraging data analytics for predictive decision-making in the rapidly evolving healthcare sector.

He has also focused on cultivating high-performing teams, ensuring finance professionals are empowered to go beyond the numbers and contribute to broader business outcomes. Known for fairness and ethical leadership, Goenka aligns his teams with the company’s mission while fostering a culture of innovation and operational excellence.

In this conversation, the dynamic leader speaks to Corporate World about navigating the complexities of global financial management while driving strategic business expansion.

Q. As Group CFO, how do you balance day-to-day financial management with long-term strategic expansion?

The key is to create a culture of accountability and trust, where teams take ownership of both numbers and outcomes. From there, I’ve focused on building strong foundations through technology—automating reporting, analytics, and workflows to make the finance function system-driven rather than person-dependent. This ensures daily operations run seamlessly, freeing bandwidth for strategic priorities. With clear governance, defined KPIs, and an analytical framework, we move from managing transactions to shaping direction. This allows me to stay deeply involved in expansion strategy—optimising capital allocation and ensuring every growth initiative drives long-term value creation.

Q. What are the key priorities in your roadmap to enhance NephroPlus’s ROCE and overall financial strength?

Our focus is on disciplined, ROCE-accretive growth. We will continue expanding selectively in our core markets of India and the Philippines, where our model already demonstrates strong profitability. Every new clinic must meet our internal ROCE hurdle rate before capital is committed. Additionally, every few years we will explore entry into new geographies to diversify risk while preserving returns. Over the last three years, this disciplined approach has lifted our ROCE from near 0% to 23%, reflecting a balance between growth and efficiency. Strengthening working capital discipline, optimizing debt structures, and leveraging operational scale will remain central to sustaining financial resilience.

Q. In a healthcare business with strong operational demands, how do you ensure financial discipline while supporting rapid growth?

Maintaining discipline in healthcare starts with robust systems, processes, and a culture of accountability. We’ve implemented technology platforms that provide real-time visibility of performance metrics across our network, enabling swift, informed decisions. I believe in developing finance professionals who think like business partners, not just controllers. Combined with a razor-sharp focus on prioritizing growth opportunities, this ensures we scale responsibly, maintain compliance, and protect profitability as we expand across diverse markets.

Q. How do you leverage technology and data analytics to make financial decisions more strategic and predictive?

At NephroPlus, we have an intentional bias toward embedding technology and data analytics in every financial process. Our priority is to organize, democratize, and monetize our data assets, ensuring decision-makers across levels have access to actionable insights. Through advanced analytics, we can identify BD opportunities, heat map centre performance and benchmark efficiencies. Our performance management system rewards data-driven decision-making and transparency, transforming finance from a retrospective to a predictive and strategic enabler.

Q. How do you ensure your leadership values are reflected in the culture of the finance division?

Culture is built through consistency between words and actions. By keeping things simple, being authentic, and walking the talk, I strive to make integrity and ownership tangible in every interaction. I focus on empowering talent—giving individuals the autonomy to lead initiatives that align with our broader mission. Open communication, meritocracy, and trust form the backbone of our finance culture, ensuring that our values are not just spoken, but practiced daily.

Q. What’s your approach to developing high-performing teams in a fast-paced, mission-driven healthcare environment?

High-performing teams thrive when clarity, empowerment, and purpose intersect. I prioritize creating systems that remove ambiguity—clear priorities, structured processes, and transparent feedback. Beyond structure, I nurture a growth mindset and encourage teams to challenge assumptions. Every initiative must tie back to measurable impact and patient outcomes. By combining the rigor of process with the inspiration of purpose, we’ve built a finance function that’s agile, entrepreneurial, and deeply aligned with our mission to make quality dialysis care accessible across Asia.

Q. What advice would you give to emerging finance leaders aspiring to transition from functional expertise to strategic leadership?

Shift your focus from activity to impact. Technical mastery is valuable, but leadership lies in driving outcomes—simplifying complexity, influencing strategy, and enabling teams to deliver measurable results. Declutter your mind and focus on a few high-impact priorities that truly move the organization forward. Cultivate an intentional sense of urgency to achieve key outcomes and have the courage to say no to distractions. Above all, build trust—because great finance leaders don’t just interpret numbers; they empower people to use those numbers to shape meaningful change.