NOPAT

Operating profit taxed at the marginal rate, as though the company had no debt. It is the numerator of return on invested capital and the starting point of an enterprise-level cash flow.

A firm with ₹960 crore of operating profit at a 25% tax rate has ₹720 crore of net operating profit after tax.

Using the marginal rate rather than the reported effective rate is deliberate. The reported rate is lower for a leveraged company because interest is deductible, and building that saving into the cash flow while also using an after-tax cost of debt in the discount rate counts the same benefit twice.

Tax the operations. Finance the company separately.