Guest Lecture on Risk Assessment in Project Financing by Raunak Karanjit

An educational and very timely Guest Lecture on the topic Risk Assessment in Project Financingwas presented by a financial professional Mr. Raunak Karanjit on 15 th July at Embark College. The session formed one of the industry interaction series the college organizes to ensure students engage industry players who inject their real experience and views into the classroom.
With business and infrastructural projects getting more complex and significant in magnitude, identifying, evaluating and mitigating financial risks have become a most sought after skill by participants in the fields of finance, management, and development. In realization of this, the session was set to acquaint the students with the principal aspects and procedures of risk assessment in the larger framework of project financing.
This program was commenced by a welcoming speech and short introduction of the speaker. Mr. Raunak Karanjit, who is a well regarded project finance consultant with experience in all aspects of the financial institutions, development of infrastructure and advice service, contributed significantly to the session. The way he simplified technical ideas and applied them to the real-life scenarios captured the audience at once.
Mr. Karanjit started by illustrating the essence of project financing both in the government and the non government sectors. He pointed out the difference between project finance and conventional corporate finance, emphasizing on the project capacity to prove cash flows regardless of the balance sheet of the sponsor. Power plants, toll roads, IT infrastructure, and even industrial activities, he elaborated that project financing can benefit in developing long term development projects.
The highlights of the lecture included risk assessment that is the essential part of any project finance transaction. Mr. Karanjit briefed students about the key forms of risks that are involved in project finance, among them are:
• Hazard of Construction
• Operation Risk
• Market and demand risk
• Political Risk and Regulatory Risk
• Financial Risk (Interest Rate, Currency, Inflation)
• Environmental Risks and Social Risk

He then described a number of risk reduction instruments and countermeasures, including: risk sharing mechanisms through the use of contracts, insurance, hedging of financial risks, using public-private partnerships (PPPs) in this effort to handle risks in the longer-term. Case studies in real life of some national and international projects contributed to the depth of the discussion, and it provided the students the opportunity to view the application of theory in the real life.
One of the most interesting aspects of the session is a group-based scenario, during which the students had to assess the level of risk of a mock project and propose measures to eliminate it or mitigate it. The team building activity promoted team building, creative thinking and implementation of the financial concepts in a mock business. Mr. Karanjit gave a positive critique and shared its thoughts on how that sort of decision is arrived at in the real-life project finance transactions.
During the session, some clever thoughts were addressed by students on investor confidence, ESG factors in project risk, risk-return tradeoff, and the new global trends like queen financing and the environment risks. Mr. Karanjit did not evade the questions and advised how young professionals could develop knowledge in this niche and more and more important sphere.
The vote of thanks given at the end of the session by the academic coordinator who thanked Mr. Karanjit on his part in making complex concepts simple and realistic to the students. The respondents shared they enjoyed learning with a professional in the field of study and left with a better understanding of both the financial and strategic aspects of a large-scale project management.
The guest lecture was one more move toward the goal of Embark College to make its students industry-ready. Having linked the learning in classrooms with the current practice in the field of finance and investments, the given sessions are of crucial importance to students as they help them to become confident, competent knowledgeable professionals.
Embark College is looking forward to continued expert-led sessions in the future that will help in academic and professional development of the students.