Job Description

Company:

Caspian Debt is a specialized debt vehicle registered as a non-banking finance company (NBFC) and backed by reputed investors like SIDBI Venture Capital, Gray Ghost Ventures (USA), FMO (Dutch Govt Development Finance Institution), DFC (USA), and Triodos Investment Management, apart from its promoter Caspian Equity. Over the past decade, Caspian Debt has provided debt finance of about INR 2,500 Crore to more than 200 small and medium corporate entities across several high impact sectors like food & agribusiness, financial inclusion, healthcare, clean energy, education, water & sanitation, etc.

Caspian Debt takes an investment approach to lending. Our loan ticket sizes range between INR 5 lakh - INR 15 Crore. We provide a wide variety of financial products which include term loans, working capital, purchase order finance, bill discounting, receivables finance, revolving limits, venture debt, subordinated debt, guarantees, quasi-equity, etc. Unlike traditional lenders, Caspian Debt does not make lending decisions based on mortgage collateral but instead, depends upon business data and customised product structuring to make loans to high impact companies.

THE CASPIAN CULTURE:

Caspian promotes meritocracy and is an equal opportunity employer. You will be an important part of our organization and will have a key role in our continuing success. Working as a team is critically important at Caspian. Our organization is lean and requires efficient solutions, unencumbered by excessive bureaucracy. As a result, we work together to find the most innovative answers, maintaining a very entrepreneurial environment.

We encourage you to visit our website at https://www.caspiandebt.in/ for more information on the firm.

Job Purpose/ Description:

Own the credit evaluation of potential borrowers and monitor all day-to-day credit risk of entities that Caspian Debt has lent to. Being the Risk counterpart to the Investments / Relationship role, this person is expected to oversee the credit integrity of the relationships we onboard, and continue the risk monitoring and analytics, compliance and supervise the reporting integrity of the built portfolio. The position demands collaboration at all levels, balances resources to achieve objectives, and establishes accountability for results. Team management responsibility may be added, based on prior experience.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Credit Evaluation:

- Lead the preliminary screening for fresh loan applications and process thorough financial analysis and background verification of the business and promoters as per the Caspian Debt investment policy and TAT guidelines.

- Collection & processing of historical and projected data from the applicant/borrower at different stages of the proposal.

- Undertake detailed due diligence to establish credit motivation, in collaboration with the Investment Manager. Gain knowledge of the underlying business models and engage with the applicant/borrower management to understand plans.

- Work with the Investment Manager to present a comprehensive proposal for internal credit decisions, with a specific focus on validating and contextualising the financial, business and sectoral analyses.

- Decide the metrics that would be necessary to monitor the credit risk in the portfolio.

Portfolio Monitoring:

- Identification, assessment and measurement of the portfolio companies\' credit risks at the transactional and overall levels.

- Continuous evaluation of assigned portfolio companies based on their ongoing performance and projections in light of the market/environment that each business operates in.

- Update Caspian Debt management on the quality of the company\'s loan portfolio, high-risk loans and industry issues and opportunities of the assigned portfolio. Prepare succinct reports for internal and stakeholders communicating status and nature of portfolio risk.

- Conduct on-site visits to portfolio companies periodically, based on identified credit risk priority. Plan and manage a calendar of monitoring calls and onsite visits/ client meetings to derive a complete picture of the risk and inform the management on the portfolio.

- Identification of Early Warning Signals for signs of stress in portfolio companies and recommend courses of action. Ensure timely availability of detailed Early Warnings Reports and provide ad-hoc reports from time to time on the assigned portfolio.

- Collaborate with the Investment Manager and Operations team to maintain portfolio relationships and take lead on remedial measures in case a company demonstrates early signs of stress (
- Recommend increasing, maintaining or decreasing exposure on portfolio companies based on the inherent risk.

Insights:

- Perform extensive analysis of portfolio companies, including financial, operational and industry scaling and performance to share insights with internal and external stakeholders.

- Continuous evaluation of the assigned sector that portfolio companies operate in to identify risks and opportunities. Generate sector insights and periodic sector reports.

Qualifications:

Experience:

- Between 2-9 years of experience in credit rating for mid-corporates or SMEs; or similar experience in credit analysis or financial modelling in a lending institution, venture debt / structured debt vehicles or credit data services firm.

- Business / financial consulting experience in high-impact sectors like food & agriculture, clean energy/energy efficiency, healthcare, education, affordable financial services, etc. is preferable, though not mandatory.

Education: Post-graduate degree in any discipline. Professional certification like CA / CFA / FRM / CQF / Actuaries would be considered favourably.

Specialized knowledge/skills:

- Strong understanding of financial statements and ratio analysis.

- Advanced skills in MS Excel. Demonstrable experience in spreadsheet-based financial modelling and analytics.

- Ability to conduct secondary and primary research on the market and determine success / industry risk factors for businesses.

- Skilled in expressing ideas clearly and persuasively, both verbally and in writing.

Abilities:

- The candidate has a strong analytical judgement in respect of credit matters, and the ability to form an overview of things.

- Has humility and drive in equal measure; carries a strong appetite for learning new things.

- Empathy for real-world problems.

- Integrity, reliability, and independence. Has good personal discipline and planning capabilities, is confident working to deadlines without constant detailed supervision.

- Accuracy, precision, and attention to detail.

- Ability to form good working relationships with the team.

Travel requirements: Moderate; can extend up to 15 days in a calendar quarter, anywhere in India.

Direct reports: Individual Contributor / Team of 3-4 Portfolio Managers, based on experience.

IIM Jobs