Ninety per cent of Rs 2.4 trillion of the debt is from "investment-linked" or "commodity" sectors, its chief analytical officer Pawan Agrawal said, adding the currency devaluation by China has also hurt companies.
The rating agency came out with its half-yearly report on credit quality, which pointed out to debt-weighted credit ratio which is total debt on the balance sheets of firms upgraded versus downgraded, declining to a three-year-low of 0.27 per cent for April-September.
The report, however, said it is a better picture if one goes by the number of firms upgraded and downgraded. In H1, it saw 981 upgrades as compared to 460 downgrades.
Crisil had earlier guided towards an improvement in the metrices, but Agrawal today said the pressure because of the dip in commodity prices has resulted in improvement being delayed.
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He said companies from the infrastructure, commodity and related sectors will continue to be under pressure in the future as well, and those in the consumption and export-linked sectors will see an upping in the credit quality.
He acknowledged that fresh investment decisions are taking longer and revival in it depends on reforms and clarity on domestic demand.
Steps taken to remove obstacles stalling projects in the power and road sectors will take a few months to show results on the ground, he added.
The risk of a default on payments is higher among the companies which are rated BB and below, he said.
If the US Fed hikes rates, companies who have got external borrowings may be impacted, Agrawal said, stressing on the importance to hedge and added that Crisil does not see it snowballing into a systemic issue.