Capital-Scarcity Portfolio Command Leader

The mandate

The group owns transport, renewable, logistics and water projects at different stages, each with management teams arguing that incremental capital protects far greater value. Funding assumptions tightened after cost escalation and slower asset recycling, while lender conditions, government milestones, contractor claims and equity commitments constrain where cash can move. Portfolio reporting compares approved budgets rather than the next rupee’s consequence. The chief investment officer departed during a funding reset, leaving no executive authorised to sequence capital across project boundaries.

The first thirty days require a project-and-obligation map covering committed equity, debt availability, covenants, completion path, permits, land, contractor position, customer or government milestone, operating cash, downside, reversibility and value at risk. By day sixty, the leader must identify minimum safe funding, stranded-cost traps, unsupported completion claims and capital that remains unavailable between vehicles. The ninety-day window must make explicit fund, defer, constrain, seek partner, preserve or stop recommendations for every material project.

Decision rights include chairing the portfolio capital room, releasing approved draw tranches, requiring evidence, pausing discretionary commitments and reallocating flexible resources within board limits. The interim may reject project requests that lack a defined value-protection event and may escalate covenant or safety-critical needs immediately. New financing, equity issuance, asset sales, contractual default, project cancellation, statutory obligations and capital beyond delegated thresholds remain with boards, lenders and authorised executives.

The fifteen-month assignment must span one annual plan and enough execution to prove the choices. The leader will appoint or prepare a permanent capital portfolio head, establish stage and exception governance and observe the successor lead three investment committees plus one funding and reforecast cycle. Handover will identify unresolved lender conditions, contractor claims, protected obligations, delayed options, intercompany restrictions, project stop costs and triggers that change the approved sequence.

The remit excludes engineering certification, lender representation without authority, legal interpretation, concealment of covenant stress, movement of restricted cash and cancellation of safety or statutory work. The leader cannot preserve headline completion by underfunding commissioning, maintenance or community obligations, or favour a project because its sponsor is more influential. Project boards, engineers, counsel, lenders and the investment committee retain their distinct powers.

Why this seat is open

The departure occurred as project companies were competing for cash using incomparable completion and value-at-risk narratives. Treasury can show available funding and project teams can show local need, but neither owns enterprise opportunity cost. A fixed-term executive can make bounded capital decisions through the critical window and transfer an evidence-led portfolio discipline to permanent leadership.

What you will own

• Build the project-and-obligation map across equity, debt, covenant, permits, land, contracts, milestones, cash and value at risk.
• Establish minimum safe, value-protecting, completion, growth and discretionary capital layers for each project.
• Test completion claims, stranded-cost logic, sponsor support, vehicle restrictions, stop cost and decision reversibility.
• Chair fund, defer, constrain, preserve, partner and stop decisions inside delegated capital authority.
• Sequence draws against lender conditions, government milestones, contractor exposure, operating readiness and portfolio liquidity.
• Report protected obligations, unresolved evidence, capital collision, downside triggers and reserved decisions to the board.
• Transfer stage gates, allocation logic, decision records, project actions and observed committees to the successor.

Candidate qualifications

• Has held enterprise capital-allocation authority across a diversified infrastructure or project-company portfolio during scarcity.
• Understands committed equity, project debt, covenants, completion tests, permits, contractor claims and restricted vehicles.
• Can distinguish minimum safe funding, value protection, completion economics, stranded cost and sponsor optimism.
• Has paused or stopped projects without compromising statutory, safety, lender or community obligations.
• Brings credible challenge with chief executives, project boards, engineers, lenders, treasury, counsel and shareholders.
• Has transferred capital portfolio governance through live investment committees and a full funding cycle.

Non-negotiables

• Can work onsite in Delhi NCR and lead fortnightly project plus monthly lender and committee reviews.
• Brings direct multi-project capital authority; project controls or corporate budgeting alone is insufficient.
• Will not move restricted cash, conceal covenants, underfund safety or favour projects through sponsor influence.
• Has no undisclosed interest in portfolio companies, lenders, contractors, advisers, partners or asset buyers.

1. 49 words maximum. Which evidence distinguishes value-protecting capital from a stranded-cost argument?
2. 49 words maximum. How would you compare two projects whose next funding tranche prevents different forms of loss?
3. 49 words maximum. What must the successor demonstrate during an investment-committee cycle?