Top Credit Rating Agencies of India

Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL)

Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India (ICRA)

Credit Analysis & Research Limited (CARE)

ONICRA Credit Rating Agency of India Ltd.

Fitch India

Small and Medium Enterprise Rating Agency

Brickworks
 CRISIL
CRISIL was set up in the year 1987 in order to rate the firms and then
entered into the field of assessment service for the banks. Highly skilled
members manage the agency. Ms. Roopa Kudva who acts as the Managing
Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company heads it. The
company has set up large number of committees to look after dispersal of
various services offered by the company for example, investor grievance
committee, investment committee, rating committee, allotment
committee, and compensation committee and so on.
Some important points about CARE
• CRISIL Ratings plays a leading role in the development of the debt markets
in India.
• CRISIL Ratings provides technical know-how to clients worldwide.
• CRISIL Ratings is India's largest rating agency, having rated more than
24,541 debt instruments.
• CRISIL Ratings has a 70 per cent penetration in the domestic debt market.
CRISIL is divided in two main categories
• CRISIL LTD.
• CRISIL INFRASTRUCTURES.
There are three sections under CRISIL Ltd viz, Ratings, Research, Advisory.

Rating Methodology
Different for different sectors such as
• Corporate/Manufacturing
• Finance
• Infrastructure
• Structured Finance
• Funds
• Governance & Value Creation
• Real Estate Developers/Project Rating
• Maritime Grading
• Microfinance Institutions Grading
• SME Criteria for Small and Medium Enterprises
CRISIL Grading MFIs
• CRISIL launched MFI (Micro Finance Institutes) grading in 2002.
• World’s first credit rating agency to develop a separate methodology and
scale to assess MFIs.
• Since then, CRISIL has assessed around 150 MFIs and established itself as
the leading rating agency in the Indian microfinance space.
• In addition to MFI grading and risk assessment services, it rates MFIs’ bank
facilities and securitization transactions.
• It is India’s first rating agency to have rated bank loans of MFIs and
securitization transactions involving microfinance loan receivables.
 ICRA
ICRA was established in the year 1991 by the collaboration of financial institutions,
investment companies, and banks. The company has formed the ICRA group together
with its subsidiaries. The company is headed by Mr. Piyush G. Mankad and offers
products like short-term debt schemes, Issue-specific long-term rating and offers fund
based as well as non-fund based facilities to its clients.
Some important points about ICRA
• ICRA Limited is in Alliance with ‘Moody's Investors Service’ and ICRA’s largest
shareholder.
• It is a public limited company with an authorized share capital of Rs.10 crore, Rs. 5
crore is paid up.
• ICRA’s major shareholders IFCI (26%), and the balance by UTI, LIC, GIC, PNB, Central
Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, UCO Bank and banks (SBI).
• Alliance with Moody’s Investor Services has given them Brand name and it provides
high value Technical services.
• It benefits ICRA’s in-house research capabilities and access to Moody’s global research
base.
 CARE
CARE is a full service rating company that offers a wide range of rating and
grading services across sectors. It was incorporated in 1993 by consortium
of Banks/financial institutions in India. The three largest shareholders of
CARE are IDBI Bank, Canara Bank and State Bank of India.
Some important points about CARE
• Registered with SEBI under the Securities & Exchange Board of India
(Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations, 1999.
• CARE’s Ratings are recognized by Govt. of India and all regulatory
authorities like RBI and SEBI.
• CARE is a founder member of Association of Credit Rating Agencies in Asia
(ACRAA).
 CARE contd.
Quality of Ratings
• Independent & Renowned External Rating Committee
• Impressive Track Record of more than 15 years
• Leader in bank ratings
• Developing rating methodologies for new segments like Cooperatives,
Service sector, trading etc.
Core Competency
• CARE believes in independence in rating decisions and has an external
rating committee that decides each rating.
• It consists of members who are reputed professionals from various
industries like IDBI Ltd, Reserve Bank of India, Hindustan Lever Ltd, etc.
 ONICRA
Onicra was established in 1993, by Mr. Sonu Mirchandani, who
at the time, promoted consumer durables major, Onida. Mr.
Mirchandani observed a transparency vacuum, in terms of
lack of credible information on individuals and corporations.
Unlike the West, India did not have a credible system to
screen financial profiles.
Operations began with one office that conducted 10 cases per
month. The company now operates with a network of over
148 branches, covering more than 500 locations pan-India,
and touches over 30,000 unique case everyday.
• Onicra operates as a financial services organisation. Its products and
services include Individual Credit Rating, SME rating, Employee
Background Screening, Customer Profiling & Rating (CPR), Associate Rating
and IT solutions, across the telecom, banking, health, insurance, education
and auto sectors.
• The company has been acknowledged as pioneers in this field by the
Ministry of Finance in the Economic Survey (1993–1994). It is recognised
and empanelled by the likes of NSIC (National Small Industries Corporation
Ltd., and the IBA (Indian Banks Association), for performance and financial
ratings. The Employee Background Screening division is certified by
NASSCOM and NDMA.
Rating Methodology The basic methodology followed to formulate and plan
the mathematical model for rating is consistent across individuals and
corporates. It follows a five step process.

• The first step is the definition of the objective- which is the entity that
needs to be rated.
• This is followed by collation of all the high level parameters that affect the
entity. This high level parameter collation is done using a mix of market
analysis, in-house expertise, primary and secondary research.
• Once the parameters are identified, Onicra follows a top-down approach
of parameter decomposition. This simply entails decomposing the
parameters into the sub-parameters upon which they are dependent at
several levels, until we reach independent and quantifiable parameters.
• These parameters are input into a mathematical model and analyzed to
ensure that the results are in line with actual behavior.
• Simultaneously, the organization’s research groups are constantly
monitoring and keeping checks on various other parameters, both
environmental and economic to keep the model being worked on,
relevant, fresh and
up-to-date with the fast changing financial and economic scene.
 FITCH India
It is a joint venture between international credit
rating agency Duff and Phelps and JM financial
and Alliance group and was founded in 1996.

In addition to debt instruments, it also rate

companies and countries on request.
 SMERA
SME Rating Agency of India Limited (SMERA) is a third
party rating agency exclusively set up for micro, small
and medium enterprises (MSME) in India for ratings on
creditworthiness. It provides ratings which enable MSME
units to raise bank loans at competitive rates of interest
The agency was founded in 2005 by Small Industries
Development Bank of India (SIDBI), Dun & Bradstreet
Information Services India Private Limited (D&B) and
several leading banks in the country
 BRICKWORKS
Brickwork Ratings is a Bangalore-based company incorporated in
2007 with the mission of providing unbiased information to
Indian investors for making better investment decision
Brickwork Ratings, a SEBI licensed credit rating agency, founded
by bankers, credit rating professionals, former regulators as
well as professors,, is committed to promoting Financial
Literacy, having its corporate office in Bangalore and branches
at New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.
Brickwork's proprietary models in credit risk customised for large
corporates, SMEs, banks, financial institutions, state and local
governments, help investors understand the complexity of the
investment world.