Page 2 - India Ratings

India Ratings downgrades Vedanta's long term rating from 'AA' to 'AA-'

Ind-Ra consistently takes a consolidated perspective of VDL and its subsidiaries, collectively referred to as the VDL group, owing to their intertwined strategic, operational, and financial ties

Ind-Ra downgrades Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy in 'default' grade

Ind-Ra highlighted concerns that the company's operating cash flows would not be adequate to address its upcoming debt obligations in October 2023

ADB lowers FY24 GDP forecast to 6.3%, India Ratings raises it to 6.2%

ADB has, however, retained FY25 growth forecast at 6.7 per cent, citing rising private investment and industrial output are expected to drive growth

India Ratings revises GDP growth estimate for FY24 to 6.2% from 5.9%

India Ratings and Research on Wednesday upwardly revised its FY24 real GDP growth estimate to 6.2 per cent from the 5.9 per cent expected earlier. The domestic ratings agency attributed its revision to a variety of factors, including the government's capital expenditure, deleveraged balance sheets of India Inc and banks, subdued global commodity prices and the prospect of private capital expenditure picking up. India Ratings, however, also flagged some constraints on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the current fiscal year before the general elections, including a slip in global growth, which has hit Indian exports, tighter financial conditions upping cost of capital domestically, a deficit monsoon, and tepid manufacturing growth. "All these risks will continue to weigh and restrict India's GDP growth to 6.2 per cent in FY24, and the quarterly GDP growth, which came in at 7.8 per cent in the June quarter, is slated to slow down sequentially in the remaining three quarters of .

India's current account deficit seen falling to $10 bn in Q1: India Ratings

With falling trade deficit, India's current account deficit is likely to narrow to around USD 10 billion or 1 per cent of GDP in the April-June quarter of the ongoing fiscal, according to India Ratings. The country's current account deficit (CAD) stood at USD 18 billion or 2.1 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. However, the agency expects CAD to rise in the second quarter of the current fiscal as it sees merchandise exports declining below USD 100 billion after a gap of eight quarters. Imports are expected to be around USD 163 billion during the period, up from a seven-quarter low of USD 160.3 billion witnessed in Q1 FY24, due to increase in crude prices since July. This will have the overall trade deficit printing in at a three-quarter high of USD 64 billion, the rating agency said. Another reason is the moderation in services demand since June due to the slowdown in the global economy. Global services PMI stood at a five-month low of 52.7 in July. Thus,

Shrem InvIT scraps plans for NCDs; opts for loan to acquire 10 road SPVs

Evaluating 10 more operating roads; to expand capital by Rs 330 cr

Sharp rise in unsecured loans may push credit costs: India Ratings

The unsecured loan book saw higher credit losses during the pandemic, however on a steady state basis, the losses can range between 4-8%

OTS slows down recoveries from retail portfolios for ARCs to 35%: Report

Recoveries by asset reconstruction companies (ARC) from retail loan portfolios have slowed down to 35 per cent since the launch of the one-time settlement (OTS) scheme in October last year, a domestic rating agency said on Thursday. The ARCs have started following measured steps to ensure realizations, which has slowed down the pace of recovery, and the recovery timelines can have got stretched by three to four quarters, India Ratings and Research said in a report. Recoveries across retail loan, including housing and ones to micro, small and medium enterprises, have seen a drag, coming at 35 per cent of the principal outstanding during June-December 2022 review cycle, the agency said. The rating agency said a change in prescribed norms, which now require an independent advisory committee to examine all settlement of dues with borrowers including retail, SME and MSME loans may be resulting in this and added that as per OTS, all the methods of recoveries shall have to be exhausted ...

ICRA downgrades ratings of Shapoorji Pallonji to BBB+, places it on watch

ICRA has downgraded the ratings of Shapoorji Pallonji and Company to BBB+ from A- and placed it on rating watch with developing implications.

NBFCs to face funding woes, may hit growth, says India Ratings

Banks and capital markets together account for most of the funding sources for NBFCs (April-December 2022 9MFY23: 73 per cent)

Current saving, investment rate insufficient for 8% growth: India Ratings

Savings and investment rates in the financial year (FY) 2021-22 were 30.2 per cent and 29.6 per cent, respectively

GDP growth may print at about 4% in Q4FY23: India Ratings analyst

Pencilling in just 4 per cent GDP growth for the fourth quarter, a rating agency report has said the final growth numbers for the full year will be lower than the second advance estimate of 7 per cent. The economy grew at 13.2 per cent in the first quarter and 6.3 per cent in the second three-month period due to base effect and much lower than the consensus expectation of 4.4 per cent in the third quarter. To close the full fiscal with a 7 per cent growth, the GDP should deliver at least a 4.1 per cent uptick. India Ratings analyst Paras Jasrai in a report said the agency expects GDP to print in at around 4 per cent in Q4, which would mean GDP growth for FY23 could be lower than 7 per cent but did not quantify the same. The National Statistical Office, in its second advanced estimate, has retained GDP growth at 7 per cent for the full year, which factors in a growth of 5.1 per cent. However, the agency sees many downside risks to this estimate, such as the pent-up demand, which had

India Ratings lowers outlook on Adani Enterprises, Adani Green to negative

Flags interest rate risks, uncertainty on cash flow mismatches

UP govt may to miss budgeted revenue surplus by wide margin: India Ratings

The Uttar Pradesh government is likely to miss the budgeted revenue surplus of 2.8 per cent by a wide margin, even though it may meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent next fiscal, says a report by India Ratings. Noting that the UP budget presented earlier this week made many over-the-top assumptions regarding nominal GSDP growth and own revenue, India Ratings said while the fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of gross state domestic product (GSDP) for FY24 is achievable, the revenue surplus is expected to be half of what has been budgeted. While the state has budgeted a revenue surplus of 2.8 per cent of the GSDP, the agency expects it to be at just about 1.4 per cent in FY24. Barring FY21, UP has maintained its revenue surplus position since FY06. The Centre allows states to borrow 3 per cent of their GSDP or as fiscal deficit, and an additional 50 basis points if they meet certain reforms in the power distribution and certain areas. According to the revised estimates

MFIs set for better days, as collection improves, loan sales jump

Microfinance players have already come out of the massive hit they took during the pandemic and are likely to report lower credit cost by the end of this fiscal, as growth momentum is on an upswing, says a report. India Ratings has revised the outlook on the microfinance sector to 'improving' from 'neutral' and has also maintained the 'stable' rating outlook for FY24. It expects the sector to notch up high double-digit growth of 20-30 per cent, on improved collections and disbursals. It sees the credit cost to improve to 1-3 per cent from 1.5-5 per cent this fiscal. Microfinance institutions have already absorbed the impact of the pandemic by the December quarter, India Ratings said in a note on Wednesday. It expects the growth momentum to continue in FY24, as disbursements are picking up, which in turn will lead to higher growth. According to India Ratings, there are two key risks for the microfinance sector over the next 12-18 months -- inflation and elections. These may impact

Headwinds to more than halve H2 growth to 4-4.5%: India Ratings

The many rising headwinds, both domestic as well as external, will more than halve the GDP growth to 4-4.5 per cent in the second half of FY2023, shaving off the better numbers in the first half, says a report. In the first half of the current fiscal, the economy has grown at 9.7 per cent -- 6.3 per cent in the September quarter and 13.5 per cent in the previous three months, and forecasts for the full year vary from a low of 6.6 per cent to 7 per cent. According to India Ratings, the economic recovery in H1FY23 was resilient and encouraging, but challenges such as high inflation and weak demand (both domestic as well as external) are expected to pull down the economic growth to 4-4.5 per cent in H2FY23 from 9.7 per cent in the first half of the fiscal. The agency however did not offer a full-year forecast.September quarter data indicate that despite the geopolitical uncertainty and fear of a global slowdown, the domestic economy has shown resilience. In fact, the Q2 growth print ..

Listed firms managing liquidity challenges well, says India Ratings

Given the tightening liquidity conditions and higher cost of borrowings, corporates with a weak credit profile are likely to tap a loan against shares facility to meet their funding requirements

Sebi cancels certificate of registration granted to Brickwork Ratings

Orders it to wind down operations in six months

India Ratings upgrades non-bank lenders' outlook to neutral from improving

Domestic rating agency India Ratings on Tuesday upgraded its outlook on the non-bank lenders to "neutral" from "improving" on better collection efficiencies and asset growth in the sector. It, however, said that liability management is key for managing margins and loan growth for non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs). The agency said that with the onset of normalcy in lending, the on-balance sheet liquidity would also normalise, negating the impact of the rising cost of funds, thereby protecting margins to a certain extent. In the mid-year outlook on the sector, it said that a lower credit cost for 2HFY23 would aid profitability during the fiscal. Higher inflationary pressure on borrowers and interest rates may deter demand normalisation in the near term but the festive season demand could support the baseline credit offtake, it said. On the securitisation front, a major source of balance sheet management for lenders, the agency said it has witnes

India Ratings revises FY23 bank credit growth estimates to 13% from 10%

The pressure on hiking interest rates on deposits is likely to intensify. However, the decline in credit could offset an increase in deposit costs