Feasibility Studies & DPR Preparation India: Where It Goes Wrong
The failures on Feasibility Studies & DPR Preparation India repeat, which means they are avoidable if you know what to watch. The questions below are the ones raised most often in practice; the full scope of the service is on the Feasibility Studies & DPR Preparation India page.
What is the difference between a feasibility study and a Detailed Project Report (DPR)?
A feasibility study is the underlying financial and operational analysis that tests whether a proposed project makes economic sense — will revenues exceed costs, will cash flows service any debt, is the return adequate for the risk involved. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) is the formal, structured document that packages that analysis into the specific format a bank, NBFC, or government scheme requires to evaluate and sanction the project. In practice, the two are almost always prepared together — a DPR without rigorous feasibility analysis behind it does not withstand scrutiny, and a feasibility study alone is rarely in the format a lender or scheme authority will actually accept.
In practice: We are sometimes asked to 'just do the DPR' on a promoter's own numbers without a proper feasibility review. We decline to certify a DPR whose underlying assumptions we have not independently tested — a CA certificate on numbers we have not verified exposes both the client and the firm to unnecessary risk.
What promoter contribution (margin) is typically required for a bank term loan?
Most Indian banks and DFIs expect the promoter to fund a minimum share of the total project cost from their own resources — commonly in the broad range of 20–25% of project cost for standard manufacturing or business projects, though the exact norm varies by the lender's internal policy, the sector, the project risk profile, and any specific government scheme the loan is structured under. The remaining project cost is typically funded through the term loan sought, and in some cases a subordinated or unsecured loan from promoters or directors that many banks treat as quasi-equity for debt-equity ratio purposes.
In practice: We confirm the specific promoter-contribution norm with the target lender or scheme before finalising the means-of-finance structure — this is not a fixed statutory percentage, and assuming a generic figure can result in a DPR that does not meet the specific bank's actual sanctioning policy.
Is environmental clearance a factor that needs to be addressed in the DPR?
For projects falling under the categories listed in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 (as amended) — certain manufacturing, mining, and infrastructure activities — obtaining Consent to Establish from the relevant State Pollution Control Board, and in some cases environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change or the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority, is a precondition before the project can be commissioned, and often before a bank will finalise loan disbursement. Where applicable, the DPR should state the current status of these approvals and their expected timeline, since delays here are a common cause of project cost and time overrun.
In practice: We flag environmental and other regulatory clearance requirements at the scoping stage of every industrial project DPR — not as an afterthought once the financial model is complete. A bank that discovers a missing environmental clearance mid-evaluation will pause the sanctioning process until it is resolved.
Can a DPR prepared by another consultant be revised or re-certified by PNPC?
Yes, but PNPC reviews the underlying assumptions, cost estimates, and financial model thoroughly before agreeing to certify or resubmit any DPR we did not originally prepare. If the review identifies material gaps or unrealistic assumptions — which is common with DPRs prepared by generalist consultants without CA-level command over tax depreciation, GST treatment, or banking ratio conventions — we will typically need to rebuild the financial model rather than simply add our certification to the existing document.
In practice: We decline to certify a DPR we have not substantively reviewed and, where needed, corrected. A CA signature on a document is a professional assertion of its reasonableness — we will not attach it to numbers we have not verified ourselves.
Can PNPC help if our DPR has already been rejected by a bank or scheme authority once?
Yes — this is a common starting point for new DPR engagements. We review the rejected DPR and, where available, the specific reasons for rejection communicated by the bank or scheme authority, identify whether the issue was a format non-compliance, an eligibility gap, or a substantive concern about the underlying projections, and rebuild or revise the report accordingly before resubmission.
In practice: The specific rejection reason matters enormously — a format issue is a quick fix, while a substantive DSCR or viability concern requires a genuine re-examination of the project economics, not just a cosmetic revision of the same numbers. We ask for the bank's or authority's written feedback wherever it is available before starting the revision.
Where this sits in the wider engagement
Feasibility Studies & DPR Preparation India rarely arrives on its own. The statutory basis and the current requirements are set out on the Feasibility Studies & DPR Preparation India service page, and the related services are grouped under Business Transformation.
What PNPC does
PNPC Global has practised since 1986 across India and the UAE. On Feasibility Studies & DPR Preparation India we take the work end to end — reviewing the facts, preparing and filing what is required, and dealing with the authority through to closure.