Bank Loan Instruments

A CRISIL Bank Loan Rating (BLR) reflects CRISIL’s opinion on the likelihood of the financial obligations (arising out of a rated facility) being serviced on time, and in full, as specified in the terms of the facility. CRISIL assigns ratings on the long- and short-term scales, depending on the original maturity of the facility.

CRISIL rates both fund and non-fund based facilities of banks. Fund based facilities rated include: packing credit, cash credit, working capital demand loan (WCDL), purchase bill discounting, bill purchase/discounting, factoring/forfeiting, post-shipment credit, short-term loan, foreign currency non-resident loan, term loans, external commercial borrowings (ECBs), mortgage loan facility, and vendor financing. Non-fund based facilities rated include: bank guarantee, letter of credit, and foreign exchange forward contract limit.

CRISIL has been assigning BLRs since June 2007, following RBI’s announcement of prudential guidelines for implementation of the new capital adequacy framework for banks in April 2007. These guidelines require banks to link the capital they maintain on credit exposures, to the external credit ratings on these exposures. The RBI has recognised CRISIL as an eligible external credit assessment institution (ECAI). Banks can, therefore, use CRISIL’s ratings to compute the capital levels they need to maintain on rated credit exposures. CRISIL rates the maximum number of companies for their bank loans in India.

We have assigned ratings to bank facilities of over 15,000 entities as on March 31, 2016. At least one in every two entities which have their bank loans rated in India have got it from CRISIL.

CRISIL’s BLRs cover companies of all sizes pan-India, with bank facilities ranging from Rs 50 million to Rs 500 billion.

CRISIL has superior capabilities in BLRs, and is a preferred rating agency of choice, for many reasons:

• Direct presence in 65 major industrial centres across India to handhold first-time rating clients
• The largest and most experienced team of rating analysts\
• A qualified team of industry analysts and economists that enhance the knowledge base
• State-of-the-art automated workflow with dedicated support-services teams
• Regular presentations and interaction with industry associations, regulators, and decision makers