CHAPTER-I

INTRODUCTION
1.1 MEANING OF WORKING CAPITAL
“Working Capital is the Life-Blood and Controlling Nerve Center of a business”

Working capital (abbreviated WC) is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organization or other entity, including governmental entity. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is considered a part of operating capital. Net working capital is calculated as current assets minus current liabilities. It is a derivation of working capital that is commonly used in valuation techniques such as DCFs (Discounted cash flows). If current assets are less than current liabilities, an entity has a working capital deficiency, also called a working capital deficit. A company can be endowed with assets and profitability but short of liquidity if its assets cannot readily be converted into cash. Positive working capital is required to ensure that a firm is able to continue its operations and that it has sufficient funds to satisfy both maturing short-term debt and upcoming operational expenses. The management of working capital involves managing inventories, accounts receivable and payable, and cash.

Current assets and current liabilities include three accounts which are of special importance. These accounts represent the areas of the business where managers have the most direct impact:  Accounts receivable (current asset)  Inventory (current assets),  Accounts payable (current liability)

The current portion of debt (payable within 12 months) is critical, because it represents a short-term claim to current assets and is often secured by long term assets. Common types of short-term debt are bank loans and lines of credit. An increase in working capital indicates that the business has either increased current assets (that it has increased its receivables, or other