Ratings agency CRISIL today clarified that it has never rated IL&FS Ltd, IL&FS Financial Services Ltd, or any debt issued by these companies.
In reference to the recent announcement by IL&FS Ltd on the completion of the first phase of a forensic audit by Grant Thornton on the credit ratings assigned to it and group companies in the past, CRISIL in a statement said: "Way back in 2011, CRISIL had assigned 'CRISIL A/Stable/CRISIL A1' rating to the bank loan facilities of IL&FS Transportation Network Ltd (ITNL). As per the rating definitions standardised by SEBI, the ‘A’ category refers to ‘Adequate Safety’. The rating was withdrawn in July 2016 and since then, CRISIL has had no outstanding rating on ITNL either."
However, CRISIL added that currently it has ratings on two road annuity project special purpose vehicles (SPVs) – North Karnataka Expressway Ltd, and Jharkhand Road Projects Implementation Company Ltd – that are sponsored by ITNL. The latest rating rationales in this regard are available on the www.crisil.com website. CRISIL has no other rating outstanding on any other subsidiary – direct or step-down of IL&FS Ltd, it specified.
CRISIL’s ‘default and transition statistics’, the crucial metric that is followed globally by all stakeholders to evaluate the true quality of ratings assigned by credit rating agencies, continues to be the best in the Indian ratings industry, it said.