Tesla appoints Indian-origin Vaibhav Taneja as new CFO: All you need to know about him

Tesla on Monday appointed Vaibhav Taneja as its new Chief Financial Officer. The 45-year-old will take over the new position, also known as ‘Master of Coin’, in addition to his role as the electric vehicle company’s Chief Accounting Officer (CAO). Vaibhav Taneja was announced as the new CFO after Zachary Kirkhorn, who previously held the post, stepped down on Monday.

Taneja’s appointment comes as Elon Musk’s Tesla is looking to grab a foothold in the Indian market. The company recently leased its first office space in Pune.

Who is Vaibhav Taneja?

An alumnus of the University of Delhi, Vaibhav Taneja graduated with a B.Com degree in 1999. He has been working as Tesla’s CAO since March 2019. He is also the company’s Corporate Controller since May 2018. The finance expert had previously worked in SolarCity Corporation, an American solar panel developer that Tesla acquired in 2016. Taneja was the vice president and later corporate controller at the company. He spearheaded the successful integration of both companies' accounting teams.

Taneja joined Tesla as an Assistant Corporate Controller.

Prior to his work at SolarCity, Taneja served at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for almost 17 years. He worked there from July 1999 to March 2016. During his tenure at PwC, Taneja managed audits of a diverse base of rapidly growing companies and held leadership positions for various firm initiatives. He has over 17 years of experience in working with multinational companies in the sectors of retail, technology, and telecommunication.

Taneja at Tesla

At Tesla, Vaibhav Taneja soon rose from strength to strength. He was appointed as a director of Tesla India Motors and Energy Private Limited, the company’s Indian arm, in January 2021. The entrepreneur has a tough task ahead of him as CFO with issues like downward trend pricing of electric vehicles, stiff competition from Chinese e-vehicle makers like BYD and a rapidly changing automobile sector.

During his tenure as CFO, Zachary Kirkhorn had managed to preside over a period of "tremendous expansion and growth,” Tesla said in a filing. Kirkhorn will remain at the company till the end of the year to ensure a seamless transition.

The change comes days after Tesla unveiled its earnings report for Q2 2023. The electric vehicle company posted all-time high quarterly revenue of $24.93 billion. But, the company’s operating income was down by 3 per cent from the corresponding quarter a year ago at $2.40 billion. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that the company will continue to target 1.8 million vehicle deliveries this year, but the production may go down in the third quarter.