Rating Rationale
August 07, 2020 | Mumbai
Sri Adichunchanagiri Shikshana Trust
Suspension revoked; 'CRISIL BBB/Stable/CRISIL A3+' assigned to bank debt
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.275 Crore
Long Term Rating CRISIL BBB/Stable (Assigned; Suspension Revoked)
Short Term Rating CRISIL A3+ (Assigned; Suspension Revoked)
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has revoked the suspension of its ratings on the bank facilities of Sri Adichunchanagiri Shikshana Trust (SAST) and has assigned its 'CRISIL BBB/Stable/CRISIL A3+' ratings to the bank facilities. CRISIL had suspended the ratings on December 21, 2012 on account of non-cooperation by SAST with CRISIL's efforts to undertake are view of the ratings. SAST has now shared the requisite information enabling CRISIL to assign its ratings.
 
The rating reflects SAST's established presence in education sector along with strong financial risk profile. These strengths are partially offset by susceptibility to regulatory framework governing education sector.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Strengths
* Established presence in education sector:
SAST was started in the year 1973 with the objective of rendering social, charitable, educational and medical services. The trust runs more than 400 institutions across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi with more than one lakh students, providing education from primary school to professional courses. Apart from the primary & secondary schools, and undergraduate courses (Arts, Commerce, Science, ITI, Polytechnic), the trust runs institutions catering to professional courses such as Engineering, Medicine, Management, Ayurvedic medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing as well as Sanskrit schools & colleges. All the institutions have required infrastructure facilities such as hostel, laboratory, library etc. Courses run by the trust have necessary UGC/ AICTE approvals in place.
 
* Strong financial risk profile:
SAST has a strong financial risk profile marked by healthy net worth, low gearing & comfortable debt protection indicators. Net worth is robust, estimated at Rs.1033 crores as on March 31, 2020. The gearing has been maintained at below 1 times in the past four years and is expected to remain at this level over the medium term. The healthy profitability and low gearing have led to strong debt protection metrics, with interest coverage ratio at 8 times and net cash accruals to total debt ratio at 0.7 times for the year ended March 31, 2020. However revenue and profitability growth is expected to remain muted over the medium term owing to COVID19 restrictions. Fee collection remained low in Q1 2021.
 
Weakness
* Susceptibility to changes in regulatory framework governing education sector:
The establishment and running of higher educational institutions are governed by various governmental and quasi-governmental agencies such as the University grants commission (UGC), Medical Council of India (MCI), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), universities, state governments, and others. Each body has detailed procedures for granting permission to set up new institutions, and the approvals need to be renewed every three or five years. Even enhancing the number of seats would require prior approval. Education providers have to comply with the regulations specified by these bodies from time to time in relation to infrastructure and faculty members made available to students under different courses. The course fees that can be charged from the students are decided by SAST after obtaining necessary approvals from regulatory agencies. The fee to be charged and any increase in the fee structure are decided by the affiliated universities.
Liquidity Adequate

SAST group has adequate liquidity profile marked by healthy cash accruals, moderately high bank limit utilisation and healthy cash and bank balances. SAST group has reported average month end bank limit utilisation of about 85 per cent for the 12-month period ended May 2020. Further company is expected to generate healthy cash accruals of around Rs. 120 crores per annum over the medium term as against Rs. 35-45 crores of repayment obligation. SAST maintains healthy cash and bank balances which stood at around Rs. 89 crores as on March 31, 2020. DSRA maintained covering 3 month repayment obligation. Timely collections and maintenance of DSRA would remain key rating monitorables.

Outlook: Stable

CRISIL believes SAST will continue to benefit over the medium term from its established position & management extensive experience in the sector. 
 
Rating Sensitivity Factor
Upward Factors:
* Improvement in scale of operation and better cash flow management
* Sustenance of EBITDA margin at 25%
 
Downgrade Factors:
* Substantial decline in operating income or EBITDA margin to less than 20 %
* Larger debt funded capital expenditure resulting in weakening of financial risk profile.

About the Trust

SAST was set up in 1973 to render social, charitable, educational, and medical services under the stewardship of the pontiff of Sri Adichunchanagiri Matt, Jagadguru Nirmalanandanatha Mahaswamiji, president of the trust. SAST runs more than 400 educational institutes across Karnataka with around 1, 00,000 students. The trust is situated at Sri Adi chunchanagiri kshetra in Mandya district in Karnataka.

Key Financial Indicators
As on/for the period ended March 31 Unit 2020* 2019
Operating income Rs.Crore 594 548
Reported profit after tax Rs.Crore 119 81
PAT margins % 20.1 14.8
Adjusted Debt/Adjusted Networth Times 0.25 0.29
Interest coverage Times 8.30 6.81
*Provisional

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments and are included (where applicable) in the Annexure -- Details of Instrument in this Rating Rationale. For more details on the CRISIL complexity levels, please visit www.crisil.com/complexity-levels.
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
ISIN Name of instrument Date of allotment Coupon rate (%) Maturity date Issue (Rs.Crore) Complexity level Rating outstanding with Outlook
NA Term Loan NA NA Mar-2026 230 NA CRISIL BBB/Stable
NA Overdraft NA NA NA 27 NA CRISIL A3+
NA Bank Guarantee NA NA NA 11 NA CRISIL A3+
NA Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility NA NA NA 7 NA CRISIL BBB/Stable
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2020 (History) 2019  2018  2017  Start of 2017
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  264.00  CRISIL BBB/Stable/ CRISIL A3+                  Suspended 
Non Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  11.00  CRISIL A3+    --    --    --    --  -- 
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of various bank facilities
Current facilities Previous facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating
Bank Guarantee 11 CRISIL A3+ -- 0 --
Overdraft 27 CRISIL A3+ -- 0 --
Term Loan 230 CRISIL BBB/Stable -- 0 --
Proposed Long Term Bank Loan Facility 7 CRISIL BBB/Stable -- 0 --
Total 275 -- Total 0 --
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings - process, scale and default recognition
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies

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