It would be to state the obvious that this world has been built project-by- project. If you look up the balance sheet of any industrial and commercial business, a large chunk of money sits in gross block or gross fixed assets. Let’s think of the Reliance Industries, India’s largest private sector company. It’s balance sheet, as of March, 2017, showed a gross block of Rs. 2,95,904 crore. Well, that is a stand-alone number. The consolidated number reads Rs. 3,56,401 crore. This is the money they have invested in fixed assets since its inception. Like Rome was not built in a day, companies, also, don’t get built in a day, even months and years. The gross block is the cumulative total of money spent, project-by-project. Incidentally, if you take one more look at the balance sheet of Reliance Industries, as of March, 2017, you would notice that in addition to its (stand-alone) gross block of Rs. 2,95,904 crore, it had (stand-alone) capital work in progress of Rs. 1,34,189 crore. Well, that signifies projects currently in execution. You must be wondering, how does Reliance Industries go about formulating, financing and executing these projects? Do they finance from within or borrow from others? Who all are involved in this process? The best question of all would be: Why can’t I do it? Why can’t I be another Reliance?
It is certainly not out of place here to say that Reliance Industries is not the company that invented project formulation, financing and execution. There had been many more, and even bigger, before them, doing the same thing. Yes, Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of Reliance Industries, dared to ask the question: Why can’t I do it? And he did it. All by himself? Certainly, not! Project formulation, financing and execution is a big team work. It has project promoter(s), lender(s), consultants, contractors and many more. We may further, note that projects are generally financed, as a good measure, with a combination of owned and borrowed funds. No doubt, project promoters, lenders and consultants are the key players in this domain, and this step-by-step guidebook has been prepared specifically keeping their needs in view.
Contents –
1. Projects: Concepts, Types, Unique Challenges and Opportunities
2. Project Planning and Development
3. Project Organisation and Implementation
4. Project Appraisal by FIs/Banks
5. Credit Risk Rating of Projects
6. Sanction and Disbursement of Project Finance
7. Infrastructure Projects
8. International Projects
9. Project Derisking: Tax Incentives and Subsidies
