T Chockalingam appointed Bhel Director (Finance)

Prior to this, he was heading the finance function as general manager at Bhel’s Tiruchirappalli unit, comprising the high pressure boiler plant and seamless steel tube plant at Tiruchirappalli and the industrial valves plant at Goindwal, Punjab.

A career finance professional with 34 years of diverse experience in the financial operations of Bhel, Chockalingam is a Commerce graduate from Madura College, Tamilnadu, and a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

 He has additional qualifications in Business Finance from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) and in Management from IGNOU. 

He has also undergone advanced programmes on Cutting Edge Leadership and Strategic Thinking at the International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi, and the Robert H Smith School of Management at the University of Maryland, USA.

Chockalingam joined Bhel as an executive trainee (finance) in 1982 and has versatile professional experience in all aspects of finance management. 

He played a pivotal role in the successful design, adaptation and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems at Bhel Tiruchirappalli. He also headed the finance function successfully at Bhel’s Electroporcelains Division (EPD) and the company’s Industrial Systems Group (ISG) at Bengaluru.

During his stints at EPD and ISG, he was responsible for the financial turnaround of both these units.

Chockalingam was elevated to the position of general manager in 2011. Under his leadership as head of finance, Bhel-Tiruchirappalli achieved the highest ever turnover and profit in its history. 

He also oversaw the successful implementation of the biggest ever modernisation and capacity augmentation scheme in the history of the unit and the setting up of Bhel’s new greenfield power plant piping unit at Thirumayam in Pudukkottai district, Tamilnadu. Chockalingam is also a keen proponent of costing and financial practices that reflect changing business dynamics.