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Intermediate

Understanding Corporate Capital Structure Decisions

An India-focused, intermediate course on how companies decide the mix of debt and equity that funds them, built for treasury and corporate finance professionals, growth-stage founders and strategy teams. Measure leverage the way lenders and rating agencies do, then work through the theory that drives real boardroom decisions: Modigliani-Miller, the tax shield, trade-off theory, pecking order, signalling and agency costs. Estimate the cost of equity and debt for an Indian company, build a WACC, re-lever beta and see why an optimal capital structure is a range rather than a point. Study the Indian reality of financial distress, from promoter pledging and holding company debt to lease liabilities under Ind AS 116 and the collapses of IL&FS, DHFL and Jet Airways. Understand how dividends, buybacks, rights issues and asset sales reshape the balance sheet, and finish with a practical framework for setting target leverage, a walkthrough of reading capital structure choices on screener.in and in annual reports, and a case study of two Indian companies with opposite philosophies of leverage.

MODULES

6

DURATION

4 Hours

TRACK

Corporate Finance

Access Level

LEARNER

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Everything included

Full Text Playbooks

Actionable Exercises

Mobile Reading Mode

Lifetime Updates

Curriculum Breakdown

Chapter 1: The Capital Structure Question

3 Lessons

What Capital Structure Really Means and Why Boards Argue About It9 min read

Measuring Leverage: Debt to Equity, Net Debt to EBITDA and Interest Coverage11 min read

Why Capital Structure Looks So Different Across Indian Sectors10 min read

Chapter 2: The Theories Behind Every Financing Decision

5 Lessons

Modigliani and Miller: The World Where Capital Structure Does Not Matter11 min read

Adding Taxes: How the Interest Tax Shield Changes the Answer10 min read

Trade-Off Theory: Balancing Tax Shields Against Financial Distress11 min read

Pecking Order and Signalling: Why Companies Use Internal Cash First10 min read

Agency Costs: How Debt Disciplines Managers and When It Backfires10 min read

Chapter 3: Cost of Capital and the Optimal Mix

4 Lessons

Estimating the Cost of Equity for an Indian Company Using CAPM12 min read

Estimating the Cost of Debt: Ratings, Spreads and the After-Tax Rate11 min read

Levering and Unlevering Beta: How Borrowing Changes Equity Risk11 min read

WACC and the Search for an Optimal Capital Structure12 min read

Chapter 4: Financial Distress and Hidden Leverage in India

4 Lessons

The Real Costs of Financial Distress: Direct, Indirect and Lost Opportunities10 min read

Promoter Pledging, Holding Company Debt and Leverage You Cannot See11 min read

Leases Under Ind AS 116 and Other Debt That Hides in Plain Sight10 min read

When Leverage Breaks: Lessons from IL&FS, DHFL and Jet Airways12 min read

Chapter 5: Changing the Mix

2 Lessons

Dividends vs Buybacks: How Payout Policy Reshapes the Balance Sheet11 min read

Deleveraging Playbooks: Asset Sales, Rights Issues and Refinancing11 min read

Chapter 6: Making and Defending the Decision

3 Lessons

A Practical Framework for Setting Target Leverage11 min read

Reading Capital Structure Choices on screener.in and in Annual Reports10 min read

Case Study: Bajaj Auto vs Tata Steel and Two Philosophies of Leverage12 min read