Both Sides of the Table
A two-day live online masterclass on the IFC Performance Standards, for investors, developers and E&S professionals
- 20 - 21 November 2026 (Fri-Sat)
- Live Online
- 10:00 am - 05:00 pm IST
Why this matters right now
India is where IFC invests the most
India is IFC’s largest investment destination anywhere in the world. At the end of June 2025, its India portfolio stood at about US$10.3 billion, spread across equity and debt.* And it is set to grow: IFC has said it wants to raise its yearly investment in India from around US$5.4 billion in 2024–25 to US$10 billion by 2030, mostly in renewable energy, urban infrastructure and financial services.
All of that money comes with conditions. Every IFC investment is tested against eight Performance Standards on environmental and social risk, and the same standards sit behind the frameworks of the multilateral development banks and the Equator Principles that many commercial banks follow. If you are raising capital in India, or deciding where to put it, sooner or later you will be asked about them.
The standards also matter because Indian law doesn’t always ask for as much. Sectors like renewable energy and metro rail often need no environmental clearance at all, yet a lender will still expect you to meet the standards. Meeting them early also helps you find environmental, social and climate risks while they are still cheap to fix.
*Source: IFC’s South Asia regional director, in an interview with Reuters, April 2026 (reported by Business Standard, 24 April 2026).
About the Course
One standard, two sides of the table
Most courses on the IFC Performance Standards are taught from one point of view. This one isn’t. Investors and developers look at the same project very differently, and each side understands the other better when they can see how the other one thinks.
So we teach it from both seats, and we bring in people who sit in them every day: fund E&S heads on one panel, developers who have been through DFI due diligence on the other. It is led by Dr. Prasad Modak and taught by practitioners who work on live transactions, not from a textbook.
If you are on the investor side, you will learn how to:
- Screen and categorise a deal quickly
- Spot gaps against Indian law before a lender does
- Turn your findings into an ESAP and loan covenants
- Keep track of conformance after the investment is made
If you are on the developer side, you will learn how to:
- Understand what "good" looks like before diligence begins
- Build an ESMS that stands up to scrutiny
- Negotiate an ESAP you can realistically deliver
- Turn conformance into access to DFI capital
If you are an E&S professional or consultant, you get both. That makes you far more useful to whichever side hires you.
The Eight Performance Standards
- Assessment and management of environmental and social risks
- Labour and working conditions
- Resource efficiency and pollution prevention
- Community health, safety and security
- Land acquisition and involuntary resettlement
- Biodiversity conservation
- Indigenous peoples
- Cultural heritage
- Who Should Attend
- Investment and fund teams at PE, infrastructure and impact funds, NBFCs and banks who screen, approve and monitor deals.
- Project developers in renewable energy, infrastructure, industry and real assets who are getting ready to raise DFI or lender funding.
- E&S, ESG and sustainability professionals and consultants who work on ESIA, ESMS or ESDD and want to be confident on both sides of the table.
- Implementing agencies and PMUs running projects funded by multilateral banks.
The Programme
Day 1 - Friday 20 November
Why it matters, and the core standards
Day 2 - Saturday 21 November
Land, nature, readiness and tools
Both days run 10:00 to 17:00 IST. Timings may be adjusted slightly.
What you will go through in two days
- Day 1
Day 1 is about how lenders think and about the core standards. You start with the investor’s view: how a deal is assessed, how it gets categorised, which red flags matter and how findings turn into an action plan. Then you go through PS1 (the management system that holds everything together), workers and communities (PS2 and PS4), and resource use and climate (PS3).
- Day 2
Day 2 covers land, people and nature (PS5 to PS8), then shifts to the developer’s side: how to close gaps, set up your ESMS, prepare a data room and negotiate an ESAP. You see how IFC’s standards line up with the World Bank, ADB, AIIB and Equator Principles frameworks, so you can prepare once for several lenders. The day ends with hands-on screening: you run a case through a free tool, then watch AI read through project documents live.
- By the end, you will have:
- gone through all eight standards, with India-specific examples
- heard from fund E&S heads and from developers on how due diligence actually goes
- screened a case yourself using the free screening tool
- seen how AI-assisted screening works on real project documents
- taken away checklists and a crosswalk of IFC PS against other lenders’ frameworks
What you will take home
- A free IFC PS screening tool
It helps you categorise a project, see which standards are triggered, check the exclusion list and Indian clearance requirements, and print a summary.
- A live AI-assisted screening demo
You watch AI read project documents in real time. It can be customised for your fund.
- Checklists and an ESF crosswalk
IFC PS set against the World Bank, ADB, AIIB and the Equator Principles.
- Two practitioner panels
Fund E&S heads on one, developers who have been through DFI diligence on the other.
Your course leader and faculty
Dr. Modak has helped shape and assess environmental and social safeguards at the multilateral development banks, and led India's Country Assessment against the World Bank's Environmental and Social Standards. He has trained staff at the World Bank, ADB and AIIB, as well as implementing agencies and PMUs, and has advised bilateral agencies, PE funds, NBFCs and banks on ESMS, ESDD and ESIA.
He is a former professor at IIT Bombay and a Visiting Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute in the UK. He is the author of EIA in Developing Countries, which has been translated into Chinese and Japanese, and Environmental Management Towards Sustainability, among other books.
Co-faculty and panellists
The course is co-delivered by senior practitioners with international experience on IFC PS, who work on conformance in live transactions.
Fee Structure
Early bird
(before the free webinar on 15 October)
₹40,000 + GST / $ 415
Standard
(15 October to 1 November)
₹45,000 + GST / $ 470
Late
(after 1 November)
₹50,000 + GST / $ 520
US dollar amounts are approximate, based on about ₹96 to US$1, and will vary with the exchange rate.