CareEdge Ratings, one of India’s leading rating agencies, is stepping onto the global stage through its Gift City-based subsidiary, CareEdge Global IFSC. The agency is now working with international debt issuers and large investors, including sovereign wealth funds.
According to Managing Director & CEO Mehul Pandya, CareEdge is already among the top 10 global rating agencies for sovereign ratings, with coverage of 39 countries. The firm has also rated about $3 billion worth of debt, mostly for Indian companies borrowing overseas.
Pandya emphasized that since India is on track to become the world’s third-largest economy, it needs its own strong global audit and rating firms.
On the domestic front, CareEdge has benefited from a boom in the bond market. With interest rates cut, more companies issued bonds, leading to a 66% rise in the value of debt raised in Q1 compared to last year.
Revati Kasture, Executive Director of CareEdge and CEO of CareEdge Global, highlighted that the IFSC arm is now the fifth-largest globally in terms of coverage. She noted that traditional rating methods sometimes miss key geopolitical risks, while CareEdge’s models have proven more accurate. For example, CareEdge flagged Greece’s financial problems three years before its default.
Out of the 39 countries CareEdge rates, half differ from the ratings given by larger global agencies. In several cases, including France, CareEdge’s assessments were later matched by global firms.
Apart from ratings, CareEdge also provides technical support and advisory services to its clients.
