Group Chief Financial Officer — Urban Infrastructure Platform

The mandate

An urban-infrastructure platform is approaching its next investment cycle with debt tenors, covenant headroom and cash waterfalls designed for an earlier asset mix. Refinancing options exist, but lenders and investors require a clearer view of ring-fenced cash, completion exposure and project economics. The board has created an urgent Group CFO role to redesign capital around verified asset economics.

The CFO will govern approximately ₹21,350 crore in projects and operating assets and influence 1,000 employees and material partners. Accountability covers finance strategy, treasury, funding, planning, control, tax, insurance coordination, project finance, claims economics, investor and lender relationships, and finance talent. Operating executives own safety and delivery; legal advisers own legal opinions. The CFO owns financial truth, liquidity and whether capital decisions reflect the full cost of obligations.

Capital structure will be built asset by asset before it is aggregated. Construction vehicles need realistic completion cash and contingency; operating concessions need condition, service and demand evidence; corporate facilities need covenant and recourse clarity. The CFO will compare refinancing, asset-level debt, equity, monetisation and retained cash without masking weak assets through portfolio averaging.

Safety and claims create asymmetric exposure. A provision is not a recovery plan, and a claim receivable is not liquidity. Finance will distinguish entitlement, counterparty capacity, timing, defence cost, insurance and operational remediation. Material scenarios will show cash before adjudication and after plausible settlements, allowing the board to fund safe completion without relying on uncertain proceeds.

Why this seat is open

The board created this position when the strategy review showed that distributed finance authority could not redesign capital across project vehicles. There is no predecessor. Appointment is targeted within six to eight weeks, before refinancing and investment decisions narrow options. No undisclosed restatement or conduct issue prompted the role.

What you will own

• Build an integrated capital and liquidity plan across project and operating assets.
• Re-underwrite completion cash, covenants, waterfalls and contingent obligations.
• Establish independent claims, insurance and safety-remediation economics.
• Govern investment, refinancing, monetisation and lender decisions.
• Strengthen controls across project costs, revenue, guarantees and related parties.
• Build treasury, project-finance and controllership succession.

The CFO will install a 13-week liquidity view linked to physical and contractual milestones. Cash forecasts will identify approvals, certificates, settlements and lender conditions rather than apply percentage curves. Restricted cash, retention, reserve accounts and undrawn facilities will remain distinguishable. Variance will return to the accountable project or asset leader with a correction path.

Funding cases will include downside and recovery capacity. Interest-rate, demand, delay and claim scenarios will show covenant headroom and sponsor action dates. Hedging will address identifiable exposure rather than speculative earnings smoothing. Refinancing benefits will be measured after fees, break costs, security changes and restrictions on future portfolio choices.

Control work will follow project risk. Quantity changes, certification, contractor advances, land and utility costs, guarantees and concession revenue will receive end-to-end sampling. Remediation must change workflow and authority, not merely close an audit item. The CFO retains independent access to the board committee where delivery optimism threatens financial evidence.

Investor and lender communication will be consistent with operating truth. The CFO will explain uncertainty and corrective action without over-disclosing privileged claim positions. Forecast changes will identify the assumption, owner and decision consequence. Relationships will be built through dependable evidence, not through postponed recognition of deterioration.

The first 12 months

Within 60 days, the CFO will map liquidity, covenants, claims and safety-related obligations across the ten most material vehicles. By day 90, the committee will receive capital options, immediate funding decisions and an assessment of finance leadership and control gaps.

By month eight, two priority refinancings or capital actions should reach execution, material claims should operate under evidence-based cash scenarios, and project forecasts should reconcile physical progress to ledger and liquidity. The future finance organisation will be staffed.

At year-end, minimum liquidity headroom should exceed the board threshold in every severe but plausible scenario, forecast cash variance remain within 5% for three months and refinancing deliver at least 100 basis points of risk-adjusted benefit or equivalent covenant improvement. Ninety per cent of priority control findings must close with independent evidence.

What the board will measure

• Capital structure matched to real asset and obligation profiles.
• Safety and claims exposure funded without optimistic recovery assumptions.
• Reliable cash forecasts and covenant visibility.
• Stronger project controls and finance independence.
• Credible lenders, investors and finance successors.

The person

You are a Group CFO, infrastructure finance leader or project-finance executive with 22–28 years of experience. You have governed at least ₹12,400 crore and 700 employees. Evidence must include a capital-structure redesign, a disputed claim or safety liability incorporated into liquidity, and a refinancing completed under project stress.

The role is onsite in New Delhi with lender, investor, authority and asset travel. You combine technical finance independence with practical infrastructure judgement.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹3.2–4.6 crore plus performance variable and LTI. Measures include liquidity, capital cost, forecast confidence, claims discipline, controls and succession. Final structure will reflect the confirmed project and funding perimeter.

Confidentiality

The platform, lenders, project vehicles, claims and funding options remain confidential. Controlled details follow qualification and an undertaking. New Delhi and the rounded figures do not identify the group.