International rating agency Standard & Poor's has become the majority shareholder of Indian credit rating agency Crisil Ltd with 58.5 per cent stake, after it acquired 49.07 per cent shares during its recent open offer.
It could add to pressure on inflation, especially food inflation, which was already high, it said.
Global rating agency Standard & Poor's on Tuesday announced that it intends to become a majority shareholder in CRISIL Ltd by making a voluntary conditional open offer of Rs 680 per share.
"The examination will cover several aspects, including standalone profiles of the Indian subsidiaries, our assessment of the strength and quality of parent support, and translation of global ratings to the Crisil scale," Crisil Ratings Senior Director Raman Uberoi said.
In line with other rating agencies and economic organisations, Crisil on Friday forecasted 7.1 per cent economic growth in the wake of an excellent monsoon, but warned that the fiscal deficit would overshoot the target besides lower export growth.
Rating agency Crisil Ltd has acquired EconoMatters Ltd, a London-based energy and gas advisory firm, and its subsidiary companies for over Rs 15 crore.
The fast upward movement in the capital markets, which saw the Sensex touching 3-1/2 year high last week, was due for correction in the short term, credit rating agency Crisil said on Tuesday.
Government officials believe that central bridge projects perform better than state projects due to stricter checks and balances.
The agency had in May projected an economic growth between 7.7 and 8 per cent for this fiscal and Monday's revision comes within a week of rival Fitch Ratings, and Citigroup revising the same to 7.5 per cent from 7.7.
Rating agency Crisil said corporates, especially those in the auto, aviation, consumer durables and oil sectors, will be "severely impacted" by rupee depreciation due to large overseas debt and limited hedging.
The domestic currency will appreciate to touch the 50 level by next March provided certain measures are taken by the government urgently, the rating agency's research wing said in a note.
During 2023, the Indian real estate sector - both housing and commercial - witnessed buoyancy fuelled by demand, supply, and absorption, and the sector is banking on the upcoming Budget to keep the momentum going. Mumbai-based Sattva Group wants the government to focus on the critical pillars for long-term growth. The company emphasised on the infrastructure boom with increased allocation, lower goods and services tax (GST) rates, incentives for affordable housing and single-window clearance to fast-track projects and support liquidity.
FMPs remain an option for investors who believe interest rates could head downward over time and wish to lock in the current rates. TMFs have very low expense ratios, which makes them cost-efficient.
The profitability of public sector banks would decline by over 40 per cent by 2005-06 due to re-pricing of the government securities portfolio, credit rating agency Crisil said.
Rating agency Crisil on Friday said growth rates witnessed in the current fiscal in several sectors are expected to continue for 3-5 years, even as it predicted rising wages in the information technology sector by 2007-08.
'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
Corporate India's credit quality showed a sharp improvement in the second half of FY22, but high input prices and withdrawal of pandemic-related relief measures can pose pressures in the new year, rating agencies said on Friday. Crisil Ratings, which rates a large number of financial sector entities, reported an improvement in the credit ratio -- the number of upgrades to downgrade -- to 5.04 times in the second half of this financial year, from the 2.96 per cent in the first half of the fiscal. It attributed the improvement to a sustained rebound in demand, which lifted revenues of most sectors to pre-pandemic levels and proactive relief measures by the government that cushioned the pandemic blow.
The rating agency expects that key fiscal indicators of state governments -- revenue deficit and gross fiscal deficit - may deteriorate from 2009 though the impact will begin to be felt in the current fiscal. It further said that the adverse effect of lower revenue growth will be aggravated due to higher development and non-development expenditures.
The Crisil study covered 600 companies excluding financial services and oil companies, representing 71 per cent of the overall market capitalisation of India Inc.
The agency also warned the government of overshooting the fiscal deficit target at 4.8 per cent due to poor revenue growth and pegged it at 5.2 per cent this fiscal.
Credit rating agency Crisil has announced that it has reached a preliminary understanding with Equifax Inc of the US, and Tata Capital Ltd to set up a credit information company, which provides credit histories and checks on retail borrowers.
Led by Trent, which hit its lifetime-high recently, apparel retailers have gained between 10 per cent and 36 per cent over the past three weeks. Given the network of physical stores, these stocks shall be major beneficiaries of the unlock theme, with most states doing away with Covid restrictions. Amid improving footfall, analysts expect the sector to post double-digit growth in FY23.
Vedanta group chairman, Anil Agarwal, 69, is well known for his business journey from a scrap dealer from Bihar to a London-based globe-girdling metal and oil and gas conglomerate with revenues of $19 billion. Now his abilities to keep his group from over-leveraging itself will be put to the test. Over the years, Agarwal, now based in London, set up the conglomerate via acquiring iron ore producer Sesa Goa, Cairn's oil producing assets in India, and Electrosteel Steel.
Crisil said the next fiscal could be a year of new leadership and old challenges.
In a new report, the agency said the gross non-performing assets for the sector will rise to around 4 per cent on an asset size of over Rs 5,50,000 crore by March 2009, as against 2.7 per cent at the end of March 31, 2007. The rise in bad debt will translate into more losses for lenders.
Adani Power, part of the Adani group, plans to add close to 6 gigawatts (Gw) of new power assets in the next five years, according to an investor presentation by the company. That is clearly meant to ride on India's burgeoning power demand. But there is another side to it: All of this new capacity is expected to be thermal power, or power produced from coal.
Credit rating agency Crisil on Wednesday said depreciation in the rupee will shave off up to Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) from the profits of Nifty companies in the December quarter.
Closely watched by the world for any escalation, the Iran-Israel conflict is already showing early signs of stress for India Inc - longer deliveries, doubling freight rates, extended working capital cycles, and higher costs. For those yet to feel the heat, there is growing apprehension and nervousness over future developments, observed industry executives.
The Reserve Bank may be hitting the end of its tolerance for high inflation and will most likely hike interest rates in the first half of 2022, analysts said on Friday. The central bank will also start rolling back its accommodative policies which have led to easy liquidity conditions, they said. The view from analysts came even as inflation cooled down to 5.6 per cent for July, after two months of breaching the upper end of the RBI's tolerance band of 6 per cent.
The Centre recently released the first advance estimates of kharif crops that, barring tur dal, showed a dip in production due to uneven monsoon and other natural calamities including pest attacks in cotton. The first Advance Estimates, released a few weeks back, are usually initial projections on the crop size and, more often than not, are revised as more inputs come from the fields. But, the findings have rung alarm bells in several quarters. The Centre, along with many others, is confident that as more details come, the estimates will be revised upwards.
Diamond industry expects revenues to drop by 20-25% in the current financial year.
Crisil said a complete phase out of CST is necessary.
Global rating agency S&P on Tuesday said even though the US and the Euro zone are headed to recession, India is unlikely to face the impact given the "not so coupled" nature of its economy with the global economy. "Indian economy is a lot decoupled from the global economy than we normally think of, given its large domestic demand, even though you (India) are a net importer of energy. "But you have enough forex reserves on one hand and your companies have managed to maintain healthy balance sheets," Paul F Gruenwald, S&P global chief economist and managing director, told reporters in Mumbai.
The current capital flight is a short-term phenomenon, the agency said.
However, a prolonged and intense second wave that curtails oxygen supply to industries for a longer-than-expected period will exacerbate downside risk in affected sectors
The agency has predicted that monsoon will also be a major factor.
The duty hike on cigarettes by 16 per cent announced in the Union Budget 2023-24 would have a nominal impact of around 7-12 paise per stick across cigarette categories, according to experts. This upward revision in National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) would have negligible impact on smokers and the companies could easily absorb the shock as it may not also have any resultant impact on margins, they said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharama in the Union Budget for 2023-24 on Wednesday proposed to revise and increase the duty on cigarettes to about 16 per cent.