ICRA an independent credit rating
agency established in 1991, has been promoted by a number of leading public
sector banks and financial institutions, such as IFCI, State Bank of India,
Unit Trust of India, General Insurance Company of India, Export-Import
Bank of India, etc. ICRA has an eminent Board of Directors chaired by MR.
D. N. Ghosh (former Chairman of State Bank of India). The head office is
located at New Delhi and it has branch offices at Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta,
Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune and Chandigarh. It has a team of
over 100 analyst across nine locations in India, and is a prominent player
in the financial services sector.
In early-December, 1998, the US-based
international credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service (Moody's)
and ICRA Limited (ICRA) jointly agreed to Moody's taking up a minority
stake in the equity capital of ICRA. Significantly, this is a rare occasion
where Moody's has agreed to a minority stake in a venture in a developing
market.
Moody's association with ICRA shall
bring to India the global expertise and research which Moody's has developed
over decades. Besides, the tie-up will entail Moody's conducting regular
training and business seminars for ICRA analysts on concepts and issues
relating to the development of capital markets in India. ICRA's association
with Moody's dates back to 1996 when ICRA signed a business development
and marketing agreement with Financial Proformas Inc. (FPI), a Moody's
company, to provide risk management software, credit education, and consulting
services to banks, financial and investment institutions, financial services
companies and mutual funds in India.
Credit Rating Services
ICRA rating services include Credit
Rating of debt instruments, sub-sovereign ratings, Credit Assessment, Asset
Securitisation, rating of Claims Paying Ability of insurance companies,
Credit Assessment for Small/Medium Industry (Under CII Cluster Approach),
rating of Collective Investment Schemes and evaluation/rating of parallel
marketeers of LPG and Kerosene. ICRA has completed almost 1800 such assignments
till date.
In January 1999, ICRA announced
the first sub-sovereign rating in the country. It assigned a long term
Sub-Sovereign rating of LAA (pronounced L double A) indicating ``High Safety''
to Government of Maharashtra (GoM) finances. This rating reflects an opinion
on general financial obligations of GoM. This rating is not an opinion
on any specific obligation of GoM.
ICRA completed rating of all general
insurance companies and has become the first Indian rating agency to rate
all non-life insurance companies in the country.
ICRA rated the largest securitization
deal in the country when it assigned an MAAA (SO) rating to the securitization
programme of Tata Engineering & Locomotive Company Limited (TELCO).
The underlying assets for the programme are three pools of automobile Hire
Purchase receivables totalling up to over Rs. 343 crore.
ICRA launched a service for rating
of the Debt Funds of Indian Mutual Funds. It is aimed at addressing
the need among investors countrywide to have an informed, reliable and
independent opinion on the risk associated with investing in individual
Mutual Funds.
Icra Information Services
ICRA Information Services is focussed
primarily on addressing the information needs of investors, the capital
markets community, corporate managers, researchers and academicians. The
quality and authenticity of the information presented are a derivative
of ICRA's wide research base which includes Monetary and Fiscal, Industry
and Corporate research in its ambit. ICRA's in-house capabilities are complemented
by the expertise of a panel of advisors in the Banking, Infrastructure
and Monetary and Fiscal sectors.
ICRA launched its latest report
in the Industry Watch Series titled The Indian Cement Industry in
March 1999. The report developed by an in-house team and provides an insight
into the cement industry dynamics, covering areas such as industry competitiveness,
the imperatives for succeeding in a globalising economy, and the relative
positions of the industry participants.
ICRA Corporate Review (ICR)
was launched is a bi-annual publication, and is tailored to meet the information
needs of both the retail and wholesale investor. Specifically, ICR is conceived
and designed to act as a ``first level'' information resource and may be
used to gain a comprehensive understanding of Indian corporate entities.
The ICR is also available on a Compact Disc.
ICRA and the Construction Industry
Development Council (CIDC), a body set up by the Planning Commission to
act as a forum for construction agencies, have developed a new service
Grading of Construction Entities. The grading system, which encompasses
all entities in a construction project (Contractor, Consultant, Project
Owner, and the Project itself), provides lenders with an independent opinion
on the quality of the entity graded.
The Rating Profile, is now
a bi-monthly publication, which contains the rationale for the ratings
assigned and in use. The other regular publications include the quarterly
Money & Finance Bulletin which is a product of intensive in-house
research engaged in the analysis of contemporary developments that characterise
Indian money and finance sector.
Corporate Reports Provide
exhaustive and reliable information and analysis of corporates, with the
critique covering all areas of business, industry, market, financial and
operational analysis. The reports have regular updates to cover the implications
of changes in business and economic conditions.
ICRA Advisory Services
ICRA's foray into advisory Services
represents an organic growth of the cumulative expertise that ICRA has
built up in different industries and sectors. The main driver for ICRA's
advisory services has been a growing need in the country for unbiased and
professional views on adopting best business practices, in the backdrop
of economic deregulation and increasing competition. ICRA Advisory Services
provides high quality diagnostic and analytical inputs to organisations
in varied sectors such as Banking, Power, Roads/Ports, Hospitality, Steel,
Consumer goods, Engineering, Automotive and Industrial, and Cement. ICRA
offers its expertise under five broad areas :
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Focussed diagnostic studies for
effective decision making and policy formulation by business corporates,
regulatory authorities and industry/trade associations
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Top management issues focussing
on how to improve business competitiveness
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Formulating entry/growth strategies
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Risk assessment and mitigation
strategies in large projects
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Building organisational capabilities
in risk management
ICRA has, so far, completed almost 1,950
assignments including credit ratings, equity gradings, customised research,
and need-based advisory assignments. |