SME Times News Bureau | 23 Feb, 2012
Credit rating agency Crisil Ltd is planning to rate around 100,000 small and medium enterprises (SME) by 2015 and is looking at tier II and III cities for growth, a senior official said on Wednesday.

"With the rating potential in the SME sector looking bright, we hope to rate around 100,000 units by 2015," Sachin Nigam, director (SME Ratings), told reporters in Chennai.

"The SMEs account for 90 percent of the employment in India and create around one million jobs annually. The sector accounts for eight percent of India's GDP and accounts for 45 percent of the coutry's exports."

Claiming a leadership position in the SME rating segment, Nigam said the company had done 25,000 SME ratings till date.

A Crisil official told IANS that there were two ratings for SME's - credit rating of financial instruments issued by SME's and customised rating for SME sector.

Inclusive of both the segments, Crisil has rated over 30,000 SME units till date.

Last year Crisil's Rs.827 crore turnover was largely driven by bank loan and SME ratings.

Speaking about the market potential available for seven rating agencies in India, Nigam said there were around 30 million micro, medium and small enterprises (MSME) in the country.

"Till date around 45,000 SMEs may have been rated," Nigam said, disagreeing that the industry had not even scratched the surface of the available market potential.

According to Yogesh Dixit, head (SME Ratings), the company will target SMEs located in tier II and III towns for growth.

Nigam said Crisil enjoys a rating renewal of 40 percent from its SME clients.

He said that under the scheme of National Small Industries Corp (NSIC), 75 percent of the rating fee for SME's would be reimbursed by the former.