The full form of CRA is Credit Rating Agency

A credit rating agency is an entity which assesses the ability and willingness of the issuer company for timely payment of interest and principal on a debt instrument.

Rating is denoted by a simple alphanumeric symbol, for e.g. AA+, A-, etc.

The rating is assigned to a security or an instrument.

Credit rating is an assessment of the probability of default on payment of interest and principal on a debt instrument. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a debt instrument. Rating only provides an additional input to the investor and the investor is required to make his own independent and objective analysis before arriving at an investment decision.

Ratings are based on a comprehensive evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the company fundamentals including financials along with an indepth study of the industry as well as macro-economic, regulatory and political environment.

Each rating symbol is an alphanumeric representation of the probability of degree of repayment risk associated with debt instruments.

No. Rating symbols may vary depending on the type of debt instrument, as for example long term or short term.

Plus and minus symbols are used to indicate finer distinctions within a rating category. The minus symbol associated with ratings has no negative connotations. In fact, ratings in a higher rating category such as ‘AA-‘ are stronger than ratings in a lower rating category such as ‘A+’.

In India, the issuer company pays for the credit rating.

Credit rating agencies are regulated by SEBI. The SEBI (Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations, 1999 govern the credit rating agencies and provide for eligibility criteria for registration of credit rating agencies, monitoring and review of ratings, requirements for a proper rating process, avoidance of conflict of interest and inspection of rating agencies by SEBI, amongst other things.

No. SEBI does not play any role in the assessment made by the rating agency. The rating is intended to be an independent, unbiased and professional opinion of the rating agency.

No. To protect the interest of investors, SEBI has mandated that every credit rating agency shall, during the lifetime of the securities rated by it, continuously monitor the rating of such securities and carry out periodic reviews of all published ratings.

Rating is an opinion based on information available at a point in time with the rating agency and expectations made on the basis of such information by the agency. However, information can change significantly over time causing the rated instruments performance to deviate from the earlier expectations thereby affecting the future repayment abilities and thus, requiring the rating to be altered.

Rating is monitored throughout the life of the instrument. A downgrade in the rating indicates that the risk of default of the instrument is higher than what was earlier predicted.

A credit rating is a professional opinion given after studying all available information at a particular point of time. Nevertheless, such opinions may prove wrong in the context of subsequent events. There is no contract between an investor and a rating agency and the investor is free to accept or reject the opinion of the agency.

No, SEBI regulates only the agencies which are engaged in the business of rating securities offered by way of public or rights issue.

Credit ratings assigned by the credit rating agencies to various instruments are made available by the agencies through press releases and on their respective websites. The same are also available in the prospectus or the offer document of the issuer company and in media advertisements.

Each credit rating agency may have its own set of criteria and different weightage for each component for assigning the ratings. Some of the common factors that may be taken into consideration for credit rating are Issuer Company’s operational efficiency, level of technological development, financials, competence and effectiveness of management, past record of debt servicing, etc.

Credit Analysis & Research Ltd. (CARE),CRISIL Limited,Acuite Ratings & Research Limited, India Ratings & Research Pvt Ltd,ICRA Limited,Brickwork Ratings India Private Limited & Infomerics Ratings.

The credit rating agencies do not have common symbols because they use different rating methodologies and have different factors bearing different weightage.

SEBI has, from time to time, taken several steps to strength the process of credit rating. SEBI directives require the credit rating agencies to be transparent and disclose to the public the information which may have a material bearing on the ratings, any sources of conflicts of interest while undertaking the rating exercise, rating methodology, rationale of the ratings, etc

The credit rating agencies are required to continuously monitor the ratings assigned by them to a particular instrument. In case of any changes in the ratings so assigned, the agencies are required to disclose the same through press releases and on their respective websites.