Standing Tall

At a time when almost every credit rating agency in the country received flak for giving highest ratings to companies that defaulted on repayments weeks later, CRISIL remained unscathed. It did not rate papers of IL&FS, one of the biggest debt defaulters of recent times. And it has remained out of controversies around the processes that rating agencies follow. But for CRISIL CEO and Managing Director, Ashu Suyash, this is no big achievement. It is simply a result of the rigorous processes that the rating agency follows - from stringent hiring policies to focus on quality, from research to advanced analytics.

"In the past one year, the industry has not grown but CRISIL has. And that is on account of two things - first, we stand out; and second, the insights that we give our clients when they get rated from us, contributes to their growth. A CRISIL-rated bond is likely to be placed at a lower rate of interest than our competitors. So it is a big plus," she says.

After taking over in June 2015, Suyash ensured that CRISIL continued to diversify its business. CRISIL's clients include the top 30 global banks and institutions, 90 per cent of the Indian financial services industry and top 100 companies. "But the bulk of our revenues in that segment is from global clients and 65 per cent of overall revenues comes from clients outside India," Suyash points out.

She has also built a culture of following global standards "as they are at the cutting edge of change," she adds.