1997-02 Executive Frontrunners Business India Profile of Vishvjeet Kanwarpal

CEO GIS-ACG Global InfraSys - Asia Consulting Group

Published: February 1997 by Business India

Business India Profile: Vishvjeet Kanwarpal, CEO GIS-ACG

GIS-ACG Archives: www.gis-acg.com

Risk manager
Managing risk seems to have become part and parcel of his life. Giving up a secure job in Boston and coming to India to start a risk management consultancy was itself a risk of sorts for 30-year- old
Vishvjeet Kanwarpal, consultant and partner, Asia Consulting Group (ACG). After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Kanwarpal worked for six years as a consultant with the
Boston-based JSA/EDS Management Consulting, a firm specialising in risk management and feasibility studies for large projects, mainly in the power, aviation and defence sectors. In 1993, he started thinking of
returning to India. “I was keen to come back as the economy was booming in Asia, especially India, and the market was attracting foreign investment in the core sectors,” he says. The next year, an Asian expatriate
founded ACG and Kanwarpal joined as a partner, ACG focuses on risk management and feasibility studies for infrastructure projects. Power projects currently account for as much as 80 per cent of business, followed
by telecom and other core sector projects. “Since power projects normally involve huge investments and long gestation periods, the companies need a comprehensive understanding of the market,” he adds. According
to him, the primary risks involved in India are the market factors, political reasons and changes in the power purchase agreements. A workaholic, Kanwarpal works 16 hours a day.