CFO Hiring From Sector Specific to See an Upward Trend; External Hires Peak

Most CFO hires are now coming from within the same industry and business area, and this will be on a rise. While CFO movement across India’s top companies slowed in the January, February and March (JFM) quarter in 2025, what stood out was the surge in external hires. 

“Hiring within the same sector, same product segment or markets are going to see an upward trend,” Saroja Ramadhurai, Lead Partner-CFO Hiring Practice at the executive search firm Resource Bridge Home told The FE CFO.

Ramadhurai also indicated that CFOs with the ability to leverage digitisation to unlock business efficiency and better investor connections will command a premium in the marketplace. 

“In Indian companies too we are seeing a lot more promoter-led companies to promoter-led companies movement as the ability to influence is emerging as a key invisible requirement for the CFO role. This applies specifically to Indian companies where the CFO is equally responsible for influencing and supporting change,” she said.

This has also influenced the hiring trend in the JFM quarter where companies are showing greater confidence onboarding external CFOs, especially those with proven experience in navigating transformation and uncertainty. In a notable shift, 61.1% of CFOs appointed during the JFM quarter came from outside the organization—well above the historical average of 50% according to a report.

What does the CFO Movement Index JFM report say?

Indicating a slowing CFO movement in the same quarter, only 3.4% of firms witnessed a change in their finance leadership as compared to long-term average (LTA) of 3.9%, according to the latest CFO Movement Index report by executive hiring search firm Resource Bridge in April 2025. 

The decreased churn was evident in both manufacturing and services, as per the report.

This report accessed around 525 companies drawn from listed 500 firms, topped with 100 unlisted, large firms. Here the LTA refers to the average rate or trend calculated over more than 12 quarters.

The starting of the year 2025 was dealt with weak exports, geopolitical anxiety, slow global growth spillovers. But the mix also had high domestic demand, and a strong budget. While the economy was resilient, it also marked the end of FY25. 

Ramadhurai puts things in perspective on the slow CFO movement and shares, “The companies are also motivated to retain their talent and not experiment with a new hire in uncertain times. However in select sectors and high growth companies, CFO hires will continue, overall ensuring a flattish trend.”

CFO preference by age, experience and sex

The JFM quarter highlighted that preference for experience was strong as 72.7%of newly appointed CFOs were seasoned finance leaders, while only 27.3% were first-time CFOs.

Also, sector loyalty remained strong with companies appointing CFOs from within the same sector, underscoring a preference for domain familiarity over cross-sector experimentation (for example manufacturing to manufacturing sector).

“Interestingly, in external hires, 72.7% are from the same sector i.e. headhunting from the same competitors or peers. Movement of CFOs within their own sector or industry classification is on the rise as business knowledge and specificity around same product life cycles, market and customer groups and turnover size make the CFOs success even more sure-shot,” she says. 

The average age of newly appointed CFOs rose to 49.3 years, higher than the LTA of 48.1 years, further reflecting a tilt towards experience and risk-aversion.

Unfortunately, the gender gap further widens. According to the report female CFO hiring did not pick up at all. While it was 0% in the JFM quarter, the historical average itself showed 9.4% female hires as compared to male hires at 90.6%, reinforcing concerns about stagnation in leadership-level gender diversity in Indian corporate finance.