RBI approves SME rating agency licence

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India today approved SME Rating Agency of India as an eligible credit rating agency for rating bank loans.

It is promoted by Small Industries Development Bank of India, Dun & Bradstreet and some public, private and foreign banks. This will help banks to use the ratings for risk weighting their claims for capital adequacy purposes. There are five domestic credit rating agencies. The rating-risk weight mapping for the long term and short term ratings assigned by SMERA will be the same as in case of other rating agencies

RBI's approval will pave way for SMERA to offer its services in the bank loan space. It offers SME ratings, ratings of NCDs & Bonds, IPO grading, education institution ratings, micro finance institution, maritime training institutes and loan portfolio review for banks.

The rating agency has completed around 18,000 ratings across regions and industries. It has presence in 13 cities including all major metros, tier 1 and tier 2 cities.