How Promoters & CFOs Can Enable Their Teams to Unlock ₹100 Cr+ in Unsecured Debt—By Making Execution the Collateral

12 Min Read

The Two Borrowers in the Credit Room

Imagine this scene: two promoters, both running mid-market companies with revenues above ₹600 Cr and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margins in the 10% range, walk into a credit committee meeting. Each is seeking ₹120 Cr in unsecured debt to fund expansion. On paper, their profiles look nearly identical. Their industries differ, but their numbers are comparable.

The first promoter arrives with a polished investor-style presentation. The deck is filled with EBITDA growth charts, compound annual growth rate (CAGR) projections, and a few well-designed dashboards showing revenue trends. It paints a picture of success and ambition, but the story relies heavily on forecasts.

The second promoter enters with something different. Instead of glossy slides, he lays out binders and digital logs. One binder contains a covenant protection map, where each financial covenant (like debt service credit ratio (DSCR), days sales outstanding (DSO), or EBITDA) is tied to two or three operational metrics that govern it daily. 

Another binder holds an exception playbook library — timestamped logs showing where the system detected problems, how they were assigned to owners, and how quickly they were resolved. 

A third folder contains an observability heatmap showing before-and-after impact from visibility improvements, such as GPS route adherence or claims acceptance.

Both promoters run strong companies. Both have profits. Yet one leaves the room with a conditional offer requiring personal guarantees and a raft of covenants. The other secures a covenant-light unsecured loan, on faster terms and at lower pricing.

The difference is not the EBITDA number. It is the ability to prove that performance is an outcome of a designed, observable, and self-correcting system of execution.

This article is about how Indian promoters and CFOs can build that proof into their operations so that lenders are not just convinced, but eager, to write unsecured cheques worth ₹100 Cr or more.

A Market Flush with Capital, But Selective with Trust

The timing could not be better. India’s corporate debt market has grown dramatically over the past decade, expanding from about ₹900K Cr in 2011 to nearly ₹40 L Cr today, according to IMF and RBI data. That’s a cumulative annual growth rate of more than 14.5%. Growth has been powered not just by traditional banks but also by NBFCs, private credit funds, and new-age debt platforms.

Unsecured lending in particular has gained traction. Private banks such as HDFC, ICICI, and Axis now maintain active mid-corporate desks where ₹100 Cr+ unsecured deals are evaluated routinely. 

Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) like Aditya Birla Finance, Tata Capital, and Piramal are underwriting larger single-tranche unsecured exposures, often without promoter guarantees, provided the borrower demonstrates strong governance. 

Private credit alternative investment funds (AIFs) such as Avendus, Edelweiss, and Vivriti have raised billions specifically to target Indian mid-market credit opportunities, with unsecured or lightly secured tranches forming a major part of their strategy. Even family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individual (UHNI) pools are stepping into this space, writing ₹25–200 Cr bridge-to-liquidity cheques for expansion or acquisition financing.

On paper, it looks like there is abundant capital waiting to be deployed. However, the supply is not democratic. Lenders are increasingly discriminating not only between industries but between companies with seemingly similar financials. 

The reason? The central question is no longer “is this firm profitable?” The central question is “is this performance repeatable and protected under stress?”

A private equity executive put it bluntly in a recent panel: “We don’t price P&L risk anymore. We price executional risk.” That is why two promoters with identical EBITDA can walk out of a credit meeting with radically different outcomes.

Profitability Opens the Door. Predictability Gets You Funded.

One of the most misunderstood aspects of unsecured corporate lending is that profitability, while necessary, is not sufficient. Profitability is the entry ticket that proves that a business model works in the current environment. Predictability is what unlocks nine-figure cheques.

Think of it the way an insurer looks at drivers. A flashy car tells you nothing about whether the driver will stay safe. What matters are the seatbelts, airbags, and driving record. Similarly, profitability tells a lender that the business can make money, but it doesn’t guarantee that it will sustain cash flow under turbulence. Predictability, in the form of governance, observability, and operational discipline, functions as the safety system that lenders trust.

This is why lenders increasingly demand evidence that a borrower has:

• Causality: A demonstrable link from day-to-day process behaviour to financial outcomes. For instance, a hospital that can show how first-pass claim accuracy directly reduces DSO, which in turn stabilises EBITDA.
  
• Design: Built-in guardrails that enforce discipline automatically. For example, a manufacturing plant where preventive maintenance compliance above 90% is enforced with automated overtime caps and production line shifts.
  
• Visibility: Logs and evidence trails that committees can audit. A logistics operator that can show route deviation alerts, correction actions, and resulting fuel cost savings builds confidence far beyond a mere EBITDA dashboard.
  

Each of these pillars reduces the lender’s perception of executional risk. And when risk goes down, pricing improves. The research results by Scientific Research Publishing show that the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises will significantly reduce their debt financing costs. The higher the degree of digital transformation of enterprises, the lower their debt financing costs. 

Why This Matters for Promoters and CFOs

For promoters, the difference between conditional and covenant-light debt can determine whether a growth opportunity is seized in time. A retailer trying to expand into Tier-2 cities cannot afford a six-month delay in fundraising. A hospital network adding new facilities cannot tie up capital in promoter guarantees.

For CFOs, unsecured debt at scale represents both opportunity and risk. On one hand, it provides flexible growth capital without diluting equity or locking assets. On the other, it puts the finance function under sharper scrutiny for executional evidence. CFOs who can present this evidence proactively transform their role from record-keeper to capital enabler.

This shift explains why unsecured lending is no longer reserved for the largest corporations. Mid-sized firms in healthcare, logistics, consumer brands, and manufacturing are all accessing ₹100 Cr+ unsecured cheques. The winners are those who treat execution as collateral.

Sector Lessons: Proof That Wins, Proof That Fails

Across industries, the dividing line between borrowers who secure ₹100 Cr+ unsecured loans and those who don’t is not sector attractiveness but executional proof. 

Each industry has unique drivers that link operations to finance. The companies that make those links visible, enforce them with rules, and document them in real time win lender confidence. Those that can’t, don’t.

Let’s explore the sectors that dominate India’s unsecured mid-market borrowing: healthcare, logistics, consumer brands, and manufacturing.

Healthcare: Claim Accuracy as a Seatbelt

Healthcare is capital-hungry, with expansion often requiring large sums to open new hospitals or diagnostic facilities. Yet lenders are rarely swayed by top-line growth or margin percentages alone. What they underwrite is the predictability of revenue-cycle discipline.

Consider two healthcare operators.

• Success case: A ₹750 Cr diagnostics chain tied claim validation to DSO in real time. By installing payer-specific alerts, it ensured that when claim acceptance dipped below 96% for any insurer, the system automatically triggered a review, re-training billing staff, patching validation rules, and temporarily increasing secondary reviews.
  
  Denials fell sharply. DSO dropped by 12 days, freeing ₹18 Cr of cash. When the chain applied for ₹150 Cr unsecured debt, lenders saw not just financial results but operational design. The loan was granted at 150 bps below the market rate.
  
• Failure case: A multispecialty hospital automated its discharge process but neglected to validate insurance pre-approvals. Patients left faster, but claims were denied in higher numbers. Within two quarters, denial rates jumped 8%, and DSCR fell below covenant. Lenders responded by imposing a cash sweep covenant, forcing the promoter to cede flexibility.
  

Mini Playbook for Healthcare CFOs

1. Set WIGs (Wildly Important Goals): e.g., DSO ≤ 38 days; denial rate ≤ 3%.
   
2. Track Leads, Not Lags: claim accuracy ≥96%, payer turnaround ≤72 hrs.
   
3. Trigger Systematic Fixes: if claim accuracy dips below 94% for two days, validation patches must be deployed and retraining conducted within 24 hours.
   

Lesson: In healthcare, lenders aren’t impressed by whether last year’s EBITDA margin was 18.3% or 17.8%. They care about whether you can prove that margin will hold steady as you absorb new sites, staff, and payers.

Logistics: Route Adherence as Compass

Logistics is a ₹34L Cr Indian industry, with fuel accounting for up to 40% of operating costs. A 5% slip in route adherence can erase margins overnight. Lenders know this, which is why they underwrite operational discipline.

• Success case: A ₹900 Cr EV fleet operator installed alerts that flagged route deviations greater than 4%. Drivers who breached limits for three consecutive days were coached, and repeat offenders were reassigned. Within two months, non-adherence dropped 40%, fuel efficiency improved 11%, and credits issued for delays fell 18%. Lenders saw direct evidence of cost protection and sanctioned ₹100 Cr unsecured without promoter guarantees.
  
• Failure case: Another logistics operator grew aggressively but had no dwell-time visibility in warehouses. Pallets sat unattended, driving up shrinkage and credit notes. EBITDA fluctuated by ±8% every quarter. When it approached private credit funds, lenders structured the deal with a step-up coupon: 12% rising to 16% if volatility persisted. In practice, that pricing neutralised the advantage of debt.
  

Mini Playbook for Logistics CFOs

1. Route deviation >4% for three days triggers coaching. Repeat → lane reassignment.
   
2. Dwell time >4 hrs auto-assigns tasks to warehouse leads.
   
3. Freight quotes >10% above baseline prompt rail/vendor alternatives.
   

Lesson: In logistics, lenders want proof you can keep your compass steady. A small crack in route discipline is like a hole in a ship’s hull. When ignored long enough, it sinks the vessel.

Consumer Brands: Fill Rate as Dam

Consumer brands and retailers operate in brutally competitive markets. According to industry research, Food, Drug, Convenience, and Mass Merchants lose an additional 5 points of margin for every return when the returns process is not optimized, while Department and Specialty Stores lose about 6 points of margin on every return. Lenders don’t just examine sales growth; they ask whether the business can protect contribution when expansion strains channels.

• Success case: A ₹1,100 Cr electronics retailer capped unsold stock at 12% by tying Tier-2 fill rates to price-protection approvals. When fill fell below 92% for 10 days, the system automatically paused price protection and pulled forward replenishment. Contribution margins stabilised, inventory turns improved by 0.5x, and working capital days shrank by 14. The company raised ₹120 Cr unsecured, covenant-light.
  
• Failure case: A D2C apparel brand rode festive growth by running aggressive promotions. But without contribution guardrails, return rates hit 20%. EBITDA looked intact on paper, but execution risk spooked lenders. The only offers included personal guarantees.
  

Mini Playbook for Consumer Brand CFOs

1. Tie price-protection to fill rate triggers (<92%).
   
2. Gate promotions by contribution impact.
   
3. Mandate distributor data-sharing through contracts.
   

Lesson: Fill rate is the dam wall holding contribution. Even a minor crack can flood financials. Lenders want to see that your dam is reinforced, not patched after it bursts.

Manufacturing: Maintenance as Immune System

Manufacturing firms seeking unsecured debt must prove they can withstand shocks such as machine downtime, rework, or raw material delays. According to the National Library of Medicine, manufacturers who rely more heavily on predictive and preventive maintenance had 52.7% less unplanned downtime and 78.5% fewer defects.

Success case: A ₹950 Cr process manufacturer tied PM compliance to overtime rules. If compliance fell below 88%, a maintenance sprint was triggered; repeat violations led to capped overtime and production line shifts. Rework costs dropped 60 bps of sales within a quarter. Lenders rewarded the system with ₹100 Cr unsecured debt at secured-loan pricing.

• Failure case: An EMS manufacturer logged rework incidents but left closure dependent on one senior operations head. When that individual resigned, the system wobbled. Lenders classified the company as person-dependent, not system-dependent, and restricted capital to secured working capital loans.
  

Mini Playbook for Manufacturing CFOs

1. PM <88% triggers a sprint; repeat → cap overtime, shift lines.
   
2. Rework the above target for two weeks’ prompts-layered root-cause analysis.
   
3. Indirect spend exceeding baseline by 60 bps requires CFO approval.
   

Lesson: Maintenance is the immune system. A company with logs but no corrective enforcement is like a body producing antibodies that never act.

Sector Takeaways

Across all the above industries, the lender’s mindset is consistent. They are not asking: “Is this sector attractive?” They are asking: “Is this business governable?” Borrowers that package their operations into observable, rule-based, and self-correcting systems consistently unlock cheaper, faster, covenant-light unsecured debt. Those that can’t, either pay a premium, post collateral, or miss the opportunity altogether.

The Capital-Grade Playbook: How CFOs Turn Operations Into Collateral

If sector stories reveal why execution matters, the next question is how. How do promoters and CFOs translate operational discipline into something lenders can underwrite? The answer is a capital-grade playbook — a set of practices that makes execution measurable, predictable, and repeatable.

1. Apply 4DX to Capital, Not Just Strategy

The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX), long used in corporate management, can be reframed for capital.

• Make the goal painfully clear: Don’t say “tighten operations.” Say “Maintain EBITDA above 22%, keep DSCR ≥ 1.3x, and working capital days below 30.”
  
• Separate lag and lead: Lag metrics are financials: DSCR, EBITDA, DSO. Lead metrics are controllable behaviours: claim accuracy, fill rate, route adherence, preventive maintenance.
  
• Keep score where work happens: A finance dashboard is not enough. Teams should see two or three numbers daily — ones they can move this week.
  
• Create a weekly cadence of correction: Thirty minutes per function. No blame, just fixes.
  

Illustration: A ₹750 Cr diagnostics network set its WIG as “DSO ≤ 38 days.” The revenue-cycle team tracked two leads: first-pass claim accuracy ≥96% and payer turnaround ≤72 hrs. When accuracy fell to 94% with one insurer, a 24-hour playbook was triggered: validation patch, targeted retraining, and secondary review. Denials stabilised. The CFO wasn’t surprised after the month-end; the system corrected itself this week.

2. Build Capital Algorithms

Every CFO has more data than they can consume. The missing link is a map from process behaviour to financial outcomes, with rules that act before damage is visible in P&L.

• Outcome: Choose the financial goal (EBITDA, DSCR, working capital).
  
• Drivers: Identify the two or three process metrics that move it.
  
• Quantify: Use history: “When Tier-2 fill rate falls below 92% for 10 days, returns increase by 14% the following month; contribution margin drops by 100 bps.”
  
• Trigger: If X slips, do Y within Z hours. Assign owner and log closure.
  

Example: A consumer brand built such an algorithm for fill rates. If Tier-2 fill <92% for 10 days, price protection pauses, replenishment is pulled forward, and the regional head owns recovery. That’s not a dashboard. That’s a rule-based system that lenders can underwrite.

3. Make Work Observable Before Automating

Many mid-market firms fall into the trap of automating before they instrument. But lenders care about visibility first. A covenant promise means little if the events driving it are invisible.

Ask four simple questions:

1. Which activities are fully digital vs still manual?
   
2. Where is data captured but stuck in silos?
   
3. Which critical events leave no log?
   
4. What can’t an auditor or lender see today?
   

Case: A fleet operator had GPS trackers but no route deviation alerts. Drivers strayed, credits ballooned. By adding a 4% deviation alert and driver coaching, non-adherence fell 40% in two months. Fuel costs stabilised. In the next credit meeting, the CFO didn’t show “improved EBITDA.” He showed route adherence logs, coaching records, and the fuel-cost delta. That artefact won them an unsecured cheque.

4. Automate Only After Discipline

Automation accelerates whatever exists. Without discipline, you scale errors.

Failure: A hospital automated discharge but skipped insurance pre-approval. Denials surged. Faster discharges meant faster losses.
Success: The same hospital redesigned the flow. Discharge now occurs only after doctor clearance and insurer pre-approval. Automation kicked in after discipline. Patients went home faster, and claims were paid without delay.

Lesson: Lenders value speed with control. Automating chaos erodes trust. Automating discipline earns credit.

5. Institutionalise Cadence

Finally, execution has to become rhythm. Not a one-off project, but a cycle that committees can trust.

• Weekly: Each function reviews 2–3 lead metrics and open exceptions.
  
• Monthly: CFO and COO review exception patterns and close policy gaps.
  
• Quarterly: Update covenant map, exception library, and observability heatmap. Keep the last three months’ notes ready. Lenders may ask anytime.
  

Result: When lenders see governance running like clockwork, they no longer worry about surprises. They underwrite predictability.

Packaging Proof: What Credit Committees Really Want

Promoters and CFOs often overestimate the power of financials and underestimate the importance of artefacts. A credit committee’s job is not to believe you; it is to underwrite risk. Artefacts make that possible.

The five artefacts committees consistently trust are:

1. Covenant protection map — For every covenant, show 2–3 lead metrics, thresholds, and triggers. Example: DSCR mapped to utilisation %, PR-to-PO cycle time, and overtime caps.
   
2. Exception playbook library — Timestamped logs of problems prevented. Example: payer form change flagged → validation updated in 24 hrs → claims restored.
   
3. Process-to-P&L diagram — A simple map connecting operational events to line items: returns, credits, rework.
   
4. Observability heatmap — Before/after visuals proving where visibility was added and the measurable impact.
   
5. Review cadence notes — 30-90-180 cycle records, showing you don’t just measure, you correct on schedule.
   

Why it matters: Each artefact reduces perception of executional risk. Each reduction lowers spreads by bps. Together, they can tilt terms from conditional to covenant-light.

Quick-Start Roadmap: 30-60-90 Days for CFOs

Many CFOs ask: where do we start? The answer: don’t boil the ocean. Install discipline in waves.

• Day 0–30: Make risk visible
  Draft your covenant protection map. Build a heatmap and light up five red zones. Show leadership where execution risk hides.
  
• Day 31–60: Install triggers and owners
  For each lead metric, assign thresholds, timers, and owners. Build three real playbooks. Target closure <72 hrs. Launch weekly 30-min functional reviews.
  
• Day 61–90: Package proof
  Automate where processes are stable. Update your process-to-P&L map. Prepare the first lender-ready refresh pack. Show 2–3 quantifiable uplifts (DSO −10 days, route deviations −40%, fuel/km −8%).
  

On Day 90, you are not perfect. But you are credible. Lenders see a borrower who treats discipline as a system.

From Playbook to Platform: Why Discipline Needs Infrastructure

Here’s the honest truth: running this system with Excel and emails won’t last. Teams will tire of manually updating heatmaps and packaging proof. Exceptions will slip. Artefacts will go stale.

That’s why CFOs increasingly turn to platform infrastructure. Not to buy another dashboard, but to embed discipline into workflows. The right platform should:

• Mine processes in real time, across systems.
  
• Tie events to financial outcomes automatically.
  
• Convert fixes into governed workflows within hours.
  
• Preserve auditable trails lenders can trust.
  

Without infrastructure, discipline remains episodic. With it, discipline becomes continuous.

The Excellenc3 Advantage: Execution as Collateral

Excellenc3 was built with this exact gap in mind. It transforms operational control into continuous, lender-ready artefacts.

• Live Process Mining: Surfaces leaks in real time.
  Case: A dialysis chain started treatments 25 minutes late at one site, costing ₹15,000/day. Excellenc3 pinpointed delayed sterilisation and alerted the site lead. The fix recovered ₹4.5 lakh/month and left a traceable log.
  
• Prompt-to-Automation: Turns CFO intent into governed workflows.
  Case: A distributor’s freight costs spiked 15% in one region. The CFO typed: “Require logistics manager approval for quotes >₹50,000; auto-suggest alternatives if cost >10% above baseline.” Within hours, the rule went live. In the next billing cycle, delivery costs dropped back to baseline, saving ₹8 lakh.
  

With Excellenc3, CFOs don’t assemble artefacts quarterly. The artefacts generate themselves daily. That is why credit desks underwrite faster because they don’t have to imagine your discipline, they can see it.

When Execution Becomes Collateral

India’s unsecured corporate debt market has grown nearly 40x in a decade. The capital is there. The differentiator is trust.

Promoters and CFOs who treat execution as collateral win faster, cheaper, lighter debt. They turn goals into daily rules, close visibility gaps, and enforce discipline with system triggers. They present credit committees with artefacts, not arguments.

And when lenders see discipline, the conversation changes. They stop asking if you can handle capital. They start asking how soon you need it.

If you are ready to make your execution lender-grade, the next step is simple: see Excellenc3 in action.