Bangalore: Credit Saison India (CS India), a leading Neo-Lending Conglomerate with a Pan-India presence, announced that CRISIL Ratings has upgraded the rating on the long-term bank facilities to ‘AAA/Stable’ from ‘AA+/Stable’ and has reaffirmed the rating on short-term bank facilities and commercial paper at ‘CRISIL A1+’.
The CRISIL AAA rating comes 3.5 years after the company commenced its lending operations.
The rating action reflects the improvement in the credit profile of the parent company, Credit Saison Japan, and the continued high strategic importance of CS India. The ratings also factor in the improvement in the standalone profile of Credit Saison India, supported by strong capitalization metrics, which have been supported by regular equity infusions by the parent to support the growth.
CS India has received capital infused c.Rs 1,627 crores from its parent since inception, of which c.Rs 539 crores was infused in FY2023. “The net worth and gearing of Credit Saison India, remained comfortable at Rs 1,627 crore and 2.3 times respectively as on December 31, 2022, as against Rs 1,128 crore and 1.1 times respectively as of March 2022,” the CRISIL report stated.
Presha Paragash, CEO & Full-time Director, Credit Saison, India, said, “The rating action by CRISIL, reaffirms the strong parentage and support of the parent company to Credit Saison, India. We remain committed in creating a strong and robust franchise in India focussing on the Consumer and SME sectors.”
The India business is of strategic importance to Japan’s Credit Saison Group where the group plans to scale up business rapidly with a focus on Consumer and MSME segments. The lending conglomerate offers customized, unsecured business loans to help SMEs grow and disburse the loans within 48 hours.
While the growth has been enabled by the continuous equity support from the parent, CS India has also built a robust and well-diversified lender base within 20 months of raising debt. The company holds strong debt relationships with 24 debt lenders, including many foreign and Indian banks, such as State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Mizuho, SMBC and MUFG.
Credit Saison, India has disbursed over a million whole-sale and retail loans since its inception. The company currently has an AUM size of c. Rs 6,000 crore and is on track to hit an AUM of USD 1 bn over the next few months.
