List of Acuité Rated Bonds

Incorporated in 2005, Acuité was an initiative of the Ministry of Finance (GOI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to facilitate the credit rating of bank borrowers. Since a majority of bank borrowers are SMEs, Acuité chose to call themselves SME Rating Agency which later rebranded to SMERA Ratings Limited as their products & services portfolio expanded organically over the period and included Bond Ratings, CP Ratings, Bank Loan Ratings, SME Ratings and various grading services.

As India’s foremost credit rating and research agency, Acuité actively pursues the goal of unlocking the growth potential of financial markets and enabling their clients worldwide to sharpen their insights to make informed and judicious decisions.

As a SEBI-registered and RBI-accredited credit rating agency, they enjoy the unique advantage of being backed by the country’s largest and most powerful public and private sector banks. The company has also gained from being co-promoted by Dun & Bradstreet - a global data & analytics company.

In a brief 8-year span, from the time they commenced the bond and bank loan rating business, Acuité has assigned more than 9,600 credit ratings to entities across multiple industries. SMERA Gradings & Ratings, their subsidiary, which morphed from an initiative of the Ministry of Finance and RBI back in 2005, has built an enviable record of conducting 50,000 ratings.

Acuité's way of assessing Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) is quite similar to how they assess banks and other institutions. This is because the risks involved in both these segments are quite similar. Even though they look at similar financial and non-financial factors, there are some small differences to consider when evaluating an NBFC. These differences come from things like the rules they follow, the resources they have, and the unique products they offer.

Acuite has noticed that some high-profile issues with NBFCs have made people rethink the rules that separate banks from NBFCs. Because of this, it's likely that in the future, the rules and oversight for larger NBFCs will become more similar to those for banks. So, some of these companies may need to change the way they do business because of these changes in the overall environment.

Acuite does proper due diligence and then offers ratings to the debt issuers depending on their creditworthiness. You should always check the risks associated with the instrument in which you are investing to avoid losing money, and rating scales are one of the best measures to help your decision-making.