The signature move
A rating upgrade in the middle of a downgrade cycle.
When COVID-19 had the market marking companies down, I made the case for a reputed steel company to move up — convincing the agency to lift it from A+ to AA-.
Same balance sheet. Same collateral. A sharper story, the right models, and the numbers presented on the committee's terms.
A one-notch upgrade during a pandemic isn't luck — it's knowing exactly what a rating committee needs to hear, and proving it.
Another division I helped build
Surety bonds — built and scaled in a single year.
A new business line, taken from zero to full operating scale.
I helped build the surety-bond practice from scratch and scale it to full operation within a year — direct relationships across underwriters and insurers, and over ₹1,000 Cr of bonds delivered across a range of domains.
The breakthrough was structural: I helped underwriters assess the risk of a sole-proprietor applicant — assembling the data they needed and sitting between company and insurer. A segment that had been effectively uninsurable became bankable.
By sitting between company and insurer as a data and risk-translation layer, I turned applicants underwriters used to decline into ones they could price with confidence.
How I work
I sit on your side of the table — and speak the bank's language.
Most advisors hand the file to the bank. I build the case — the model, the rating narrative and the lender relationships that turn a "no" into "how much do you need?" And when the banking channel isn't the answer, I raise through capital markets, AIFs, offshore desks or surety instead.
Debt Syndication
Working capital and term loans under consortium and multiple banking — across Mining, Steel and Infrastructure, often doubling limits on the same collateral.
₹10,000+ Cr structuredCredit Rating Advisory
Positioning your numbers so the rating reflects real strength — plus the compliance behind it: UFCE, FFRs, CMA and custom models. The A+ → AA- upgrade is the proof.
100+ ratings improvedTrade Finance & Forex
Buyer's and supplier's credit, LCs, SBLCs and hedging — the trade lines that keep working capital cheap and imports moving.
₹5,000+ Cr facilitatedCapital Markets & AIF
Beyond the banking channel: commercial paper, debentures (NCDs) and AIF-structured funding when the market prices capital better than the term-loan desk.
Commercial paper · NCDs · AIFOffshore & Cross-Border
Acquisition, working-capital and expansion funding for projects in Australia and Africa — structured through GIFT City (IFSC) for efficient, compliant capital flows.
₹300+ Cr arrangedSurety Bonds
A division I helped build and scale to full operation within a year, with direct relationships across underwriters and insurers — including first-of-its-kind cover for sole-proprietor applicants.
₹1,000+ Cr deliveredSelected engagements
Selected complex transaction frameworks.
Situations where the credit story — not the business — was the constraint, and how it was reframed.
Case study · Structured alliance
An e-commerce banking alliance for a metals manufacturer.
Reducing digital promotional expense by half by turning a routine cost into a structured partnership.
A metals manufacturer was building a direct e-commerce channel. Winning customers meant promotional rewards — and at the venture's most fragile stage, those rewards came straight out of margin.
Instead of the company absorbing the rewards alone, I structured them into a partnership — an alliance with a leading private bank that gained visibility and volume in an emerging channel in exchange for co-funding the rewards.
- The bank absorbed a substantial share of promotional rewards under the alliance.
- The company's digital promotional expense reduced by half — with no reduction in the benefits customers received.
- An unavoidable cost repositioned into a shared, strategic investment.
A simple, overlooked insight: a cost accepted as unavoidable became a shared investment — and a durable advantage.
Capital beyond borders
Offshore & cross-border funding.
Structuring international capital for growth beyond borders.
I arrange overseas funding for projects across Australia and Africa — acquisition finance, working capital and expansion capital for clients entering complex foreign markets.
One engagement supported an Indian mining company's expansion into Australia — funding a mine acquisition plus the working capital to run it, structured through GIFT City (IFSC) for efficient, compliant cross-border flows.
GIFT City (IFSC) — the same regulatory framework that lets Indian capital reach foreign projects without leaving a compliant, well-governed structure.
Proprietary tooling
A model that scores a company's own customers for credit risk.
I developed a proprietary model to score the credit risk of a client's own customers — turning subjective, relationship-driven calls into a disciplined framework. It reads each customer across four dimensions and resolves them into one score that maps to a recommended limit and terms.
Can they pay?
Liquidity, leverage, profitability and debt-service coverage, read straight from the customer's financials.
Do they pay on time?
Days sales outstanding, ageing of receivables, cheque-return history and adherence to agreed terms.
What does the market say?
Bureau and GST data, banking conduct and sector risk, layered onto the internal view.
How much is at stake?
The requested limit weighed against the customer's capacity and the concentration across the whole book.
It moved the business from gut-feel to policy: strong buyers cleared quickly, weak ones were flagged before they became bad debt, and sales finally had an objective answer to "how much can we give them?" — lower bad-debt exposure, without slowing the sales the business depended on.
The relationships behind the deals
Direct lines to every major lender — in India and offshore.
Working relationships across the full spectrum of capital — public and private banks, NBFCs and AIFs in India, and offshore banks via GIFT City. When a deal needs the right desk, I know who to call — and they know my file.
Where I've worked
Deep across the sectors banks find hardest to underwrite.
From capital-intensive heavy industry to high-growth lending books.
Beyond the balance sheet
Where purpose meets finance.
My journey has given me a different perspective on money and business — I've learned that financial decisions are rarely just about numbers.
The challenges I faced early taught me resilience, empathy and the value of looking beyond the numbers — and still shape how I work: with curiosity, honesty and a genuine desire to solve problems.
I don't believe our starting point defines our destination. But I do believe it shapes the way we see the world.
It certainly shaped the way I see mine.
Let's start a conversation
Always glad to connect — let's start a conversation.
Whether it's a mandate, comparing notes or just saying hello — I'd love to hear from you.
Let's get in touch.
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Based in Kolkata