Acuite reaffirms AA minus rating to TFCI's NCD, revises outlook to negative

Acuite Ratings and Reseach on Monday reaffirmed the long-term rating of double-A minus to the Rs 300 crore secured redeemable non-convertible debenture issued by Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI) but revised its outlook from stable to negative.

The revision in the outlook is driven by an increase in stressed assets (gross non-performing loans and investments and 50 per cent of investments in security receipts) from Rs 100.23 crore as on March 31 to Rs 168.29 crore as on September 30, mainly due to slippage in one large account.

Acuite said any further slippages in asset quality could impart a negative bias to the rating. Based on discussions with TFCI management, the agency said adequate provisions have been the mode for these stressed exposures.

TFCI was incorporated in 1989 as a public financial institution to cater to the financial needs of the tourism industry.

Acuite said TFCI has a healthy mix of medium to long term borrowings, cash credit and term borrowings from banks (35 per cent) with a maturity of five to ten years and borrowings in the form of non-convertible debentures from capital markets (65 per cent) with the maturity of 10 to 12 year period.

Further, it provides a loan with a maturity of eight to ten years, leading to healthy asset-liability management.

"Low gearing and medium to long term nature of its borrowings provide TFCI with adequate flexibility to manage its asset-liability management and acts as a buffer to possible liquidity shocks," said Acuite.

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