India is building at an unprecedented pace, but behind every glossy ribbon-cutting photo there are projects stuck halfway, lenders losing patience, and promoters running out of options. This is exactly where smart project financing, experienced NPA consultants, and well-structured OTS finance separate survival stories from write‑offs.​

For a stressed promoter, the real question is no longer “Can I get a loan?” but “Can I get the right kind of project funding that doesn’t bury my business when things go wrong?”.​

Why good projects still become NPAs?
On paper, most large projects tick all boxes: solid demand, impressive projections, strong balance sheets at sanction. Yet a significant share of NPAs in India has historically come from infrastructure, power, and large industrial projects.​

The pattern is familiar:
- Cost overruns and delays stretch timelines.
- Regulatory approvals or land issues slow execution.
- Revenues start late, while EMIs start on time.

A loan structured as a simple term facility suddenly becomes a stress point because it never behaved like true project financing in the first place.​

What project financing should really mean?
Real project financing is not about “how much loan can we sanction”, but “can this project’s future cash flows genuinely service this debt through good and bad cycles?”.​

Strong project financing usually has:
- Clear DSCR‑based structuring instead of just collateral‑driven limits.
- Realistic ramp‑up assumptions for tolls, power offtake, rentals, or user charges.
- Built‑in moratoriums and buffers for delays and seasonality, not just optimistic COD dates.​

When these elements are missing, even a fundamentally sound project can slide into arrears and eventually land in NPA territory.

When lenders lose patience: entry of NPA consultants
Once a project crosses 90‑day overdue and becomes an NPA, the game board changes for everyone.​
Banks must start provisioning, internal approvals tighten, and regular conversations turn into legal notices.

This is usually the stage where promoters try three things that don’t work:
- More adhoc borrowing from informal sources.
- Fire‑sale of assets at deep discounts.
- Waiting and hoping “something will work out”.

Specialist NPA consultants step in precisely here. The good ones don’t just “talk to banks”; they:
- Rebuild a credible revival story with realistic projections and risk assessment.
- Map all available resolution routes - restructuring, ARC sale, OTS, or IBC and pick the most value‑preserving path.
- Coordinate between lenders, investors, valuers, and legal teams so that time isn’t lost in process friction.​

For complex cases, especially consortium‑funded projects, this external coordination becomes the only way to prevent value erosion.

OTS finance: the underused weapon in stressed deals
One Time Settlement (OTS) looks simple from outside: the bank agrees to accept a reduced amount, the borrower pays it, the account is closed. In reality, most stressed promoters fail at the most important part - arranging fresh capital to fund the OTS.​

This is where dedicated OTS finance and NPA funding companies in India step in:
- They evaluate whether the underlying project is salvageable at all.
- They negotiate or work alongside advisors to finalize a viable OTS amount and timelines.
- They provide structured project funding specifically to pay off the OTS and clean the banking record, often with tailored moratoriums and cash‑flow linked repayment.​

For a promoter, the benefit is massive: a closed NPA, a reset balance sheet, and breathing space to complete, lease, or sell the project instead of fighting endless litigation.

How NPA funding companies really add value?
The best NPA funding companies in India don’t see themselves as “last‑resort lenders”. They operate more like special situation investors who understand both the asset and the regulatory landscape.​

Their edge typically lies in:
- Ability to underwrite stressed cash flows rather than just static collateral.
- Comfort with NCLT, SARFAESI, ARC deals, and regulatory timelines.
- Sector familiarity whether it is real estate, manufacturing, infra concessions, or healthcare.​

For lenders, they provide faster exit and capital recycling. For promoters, they offer a second chance—if the business model is still defensible and governance is clean.

Prevention is cheaper than resolution
All of this raises a simple but powerful lesson: the cheapest NPA is the one that never becomes an NPA.

Better project financing up front can dramatically reduce stress risk:
- Conservative assumptions on revenue and timelines instead of pitch‑deck optimism.​
- Correct mix of bank debt, NBFC capital, and private credit rather than over‑leveraging a single lender.​
- Built‑in contingency funding and documented downside plans that lenders agree on at sanction stage.

Yet in the real world, many projects are already past that point. For them, smart use of NPA consultants, structured project funding and OTS finance is not “optional sophistication”- it is survival strategy.

Where Credit Curators fits into this puzzle?
Credit Curators sits exactly at this intersection: project financing understanding on one side, and distressed/NPA resolution capability on the other.​

For promoters and investors, this means:
- A single advisory lens across the full life cycle - origination, stress, NPA classification, OTS, ARC or investor exit.
- Access to a curated network of NPA funding companies in India, last‑mile lenders, and special situation investors.
- A partner who can speak both the language of lenders and the language of business operators.

If your project is delayed, under‑funded, or already tagged as NPA, the real risk is not “losing the asset overnight”. The real risk is doing nothing structured for the next six months.
 

Reliable Resources:

RBI: https://www.rbi.org.in/commonman/English/scripts/Notification.aspx?Id=889