IMC organises interactive session on CRISIL SME Ratings

Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) organised a seminar in Mumbai today, on CRISIL's recetly intrroduced rating service for small and medium enterprise rating. The seminar was attended by close to 100 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) where the concept, merits and benefits of rating for SMEs and SSIs.

CRISIL, has extended its group incentive scheme to the members of IMC. CRISIL has also signed MoUs with several banks, including SBI, to rate their SSI customers.

According to Roopa Kudva, executive director and chief rating officer, CRISIL, "The sector has a lot to gain from third party ratings; the benefits of rating go far beyond obtaining bank loans at lower interest rates. Rated entities benefit from learnings from interaction with professional analysts, peer group comparison, and a better appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses. By acting on these inputs, an entity can achieve more orderly growth".

The central government has implemented a number of policy measures for SMEs and promotes credit ratings for them to encourage more scientific pricing of loans by linking loan pricing to credit ratings.

CRISIL has two rating products dedicated to the SME sector — CRISIL SME Ratings for SMEs, and NSIC-CRISIL Performance and Credit Rating for SSIs. Under the NSIC-CRISIL Scheme, National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) provides a 75 per cent subsidy to SSI units which get themselves rated by CRISIL.