Pratyaksh Patel

Audit, Risk & Procurement Governance leader with 16+ years of progressive experience across engineering operations, procurement, and enterprise assurance within a Fortune 500 oil & gas conglomerate. Currently leads a digitally transformed Internal Audit function covering Procurement & Contract spend exceeding INR 21000 Cr, pioneering AI/ML-enabled audit analytics, continuous monitoring, and automated controls that have delivered significant identified savings, cost recoveries, leakage prevention, and process enhancement. Strong track record of building high-performing audit teams, driving governance and digitisation agendas, and partnering with senior stakeholders to strengthen controls and enable data-driven decision-making.

Seeking a middle-to-senior management leadership role in Internal Audit, Risk & Assurance, or Procurement Excellence and Governance.

Audit Team Lead – Procurement & Contract at Reliance Industries Limited (2022-06 – Present)

Own Annual Audit Planning for RIL's Procurement & Contract function (annual spend > INR 24000 Cr), covering process reviews, concurrent audits, and real-time audits; maintain risk-control matrices aligned to organisational objectives. Lead 16+ process audits annually across Project, Service Contract, Bulk Material, Corporate Services & Facilities, Revenue, Direct Material (catalysts, chemicals, packaging), R&D and Scrap Disposal procurement, plus supplier performance reviews and partial forensic audits; implemented system-based controls to mitigate revenue leakage. Built 15+ concurrent-audit analytics enabling real-time, 100% population-coverage audits in place of traditional sample-based audit.

Directed an end-to-end digitisation review of the Procurement & Contract process landscape, identifying control/digital gaps and driving system enhancements for data-driven decisions. Led the team in developing 90+ Business Requirement Documents (BRDs) to digitise sourcing, inventory monitoring, order creation, post-PO management, and fraud-detection workflows; built 70+ advanced analytics models on Databricks, applying AI for analytics creation with ML capability rollout planned in future phases.

• Delivered ~INR 4.8 Cr in recurring annual cost savings by restructuring service contracts
• Identified leakage/recovery of ~ INR 80 Cr over 4 years through service-certification audits
• Secured up to 6% additional discounts in chemical procurement via a shelf-life-based negotiation strategy
• Generated 400+ man-days of efficiency savings and moved audit coverage from sample-based to 100%, enabling proactive issue resolution
• Flagged ~ INR 210 Cr in early-payment exposure, ~ INR 60 Lakh in expired materials, and ~ INR 32 lakh in ARC leakage through analytics

Procurement Engineer at Reliance Industries Limited (2016-04 – 2022-05)

Managed Revenue Procurement of electrical, instrumentation, and laboratory spares/consumables (~ INR 70+ Cr annual spend).

Led Capex

Procurement for F&G systems, laboratory equipment, and OSBL field instrumentation packages (~ INR 120+ Cr annual spend). Owned category buying for laboratory & offline analysers across all manufacturing sites (~ INR 100+ Cr annual spend). Served as a key member of the implementation team for sourcing & analytics platforms — RFX Manager, R-Auction portal, and spend-visibility dashboard.

• Achieved ~ INR 27 Cr in cost savings through strategic negotiation and value engineering
• Prevented ~ INR 18 Cr in excess cost by identifying and qualifying alternate suppliers
• Reduced procurement lead time by 30 days through long-term supply agreements

Instrumentation Reliability Engineer at Reliance Industries Limited (CES – Dahej) (2010-04 – 2016-03)

Commissioned 12+ process automation systems (DCS & PLC) and fire & gas detection systems across 18+ plants; led 6+ system upgradation projects including technical evaluation and milestone tracking. Managed inventory and MRP planning for 160+ automation systems and test & measurement instruments, including shutdown material planning for control valves and field instrumentation. Accountable for reliability and corrective & preventive maintenance of control systems and control valves.

• Reduced false fire & gas alarms by 93%, improving system uptime to 99%
• Achieved a 16% reduction in spares & consumables inventory through effective inventory management
• Successfully executed 15+ shutdown activities spanning material management, engineering, and maintenance

B.Tech. in Instrumentation & Control Engineering – SVNIT, Surat (2006 – 2010)

M.Sc. in Physics – EIILM University, Sikkim (2010 – 2012)

B.Sc. in Physics – Hemchandracharya North Gujarat University, M.N. College, Visnagar (2003 – 2006)