Page 6 - S&p

Recovery underway in financial sector, upgrades of 4 institutions: S&P

S&P Global Ratings on Tuesday said a strong recovery is underway in the Indian financial sector and upgraded four financial institutions, including Union Bank of India and Bajaj Finance. The move reflects S&P's view that domestic financial institutions in India will continue to improve their asset quality, benefiting from good economic prospects and structural improvements in the operating conditions. "S&P Global Ratings today upgraded Bajaj Finance, Hero FinCorp, Shriram Finance, and Union Bank of India... A strong recovery is underway in the Indian financial sector," S&P said. S&P expects India's financial institutions, especially the public sector banks, to sustain their improvement in capital positions. Bank earnings will also likely be comparable to other emerging market peers, although margins could decline as the banks reprice deposits. "We expect earnings for our rated non-bank finance companies to remain healthy despite pressure from the rising cost of ...

S&P upgrades rating for Bajaj Finance, UBI, Shriram Finance & Hero Fincorp

The rating upgrade reflects the view that they will continue to improve their asset quality, benefiting from good economic prospects and structural improvements in operating conditions

RBI's pivot to rate cuts to begin only in early 2024: Rating agency S&P

In India, under the assumption of normal monsoons, the rating agency expected the headline consumer inflation to soften to 5.0 per cent in fiscal 2024 (FY24) from 6.7 per cent in FY23

ONGC to maintain financial flexibility as earnings steady, says S&P

This should help the company maintain its good credit quality, despite its investment plans and healthy shareholder distributions, the rating agency said in a statement

Reliance's operating performance to remain resilient over 2 years: S&P

Reliance Industries Ltd's operating performance is likely to remain resilient over the next two years, as the firm's growing presence in the digital and retail segments will temper softer earnings in the energy business, S&P Global Ratings said on Thursday. The rating agency affirmed its 'BBB+' rating - equivalent to the sovereign rating assigned to India - to Reliance (RIL) with a stable outlook, reflecting the view that RIL's cash flows will help it preserve its financial profile, despite elevated investments over the next 24 months. In a statement, S&P said Reliance's expansion plans for the next two years are manageable. Capex will remain elevated, but lower than the levels of fiscal 2023 (ended March 31, 2023). The company's leverage will remain at a level commensurate with the current rating, it said. "RIL's operating performance will remain resilient over the next 24 months," it said. "Earnings growth from RIL's digital and retail segments will continue. This will ...

As US credit risk looms, ex-S&P officials see 2011 downgrade as vindicated

That downgrade came days after Washington narrowly averted a default, but S&P went ahead, cutting the U.S. pristine "AAA" to "AA-plus," citing heightened political polarization

Indian banks' profitability to stablise, asset quality to improve: S&P

Several large public sector banks saddled with high volume of weak assets, says agency

S&P Global unveils enhanced employee benefits with 'People First 9.0'

S&P Global on Tuesday launched "People First 9.0", the latest iteration of its enhanced global benefits policy across all its markets, including India.

Manufacturing PMI at 4-month high in April on robust demand for new orders

Manufacturers have 'abundant opportunities to keep powering ahead', says S&P Global survey

Axis Bank has adequate capital to absorb quarterly loss, says S&P report

Bank's ability to pay dividends is protected, net credit costs have declined: Ratings agency

S&P affirms HDFC Bank's long-term issuer credit rating at 'BBB-'

The bank's strong management and governance structure should help in the planned merger of mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC) with itself

Expansion manageable: S&P upgrades RIL to 'BBB+' over greater clarity

Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) strategy to diversify and dominate a number of industries will boost spending and will also help mitigate its elevated capex needs, rating agencies said on Wednesday. While S&P Global Ratings said it believes that "the company's appetite for bigger investments or M&As will dissipate", Fitch Group company CreditSights said its "credit metrics to worsen moderately in FY24 (April 2023 to March 2024 fiscal) versus FY23 as elevated capex (telecom, retail and renewable energy) outweighs resilient EBITDA growth." S&P said RIL's adjusted debt will likely remain at Rs 2.6 lakh crore to Rs 2.7 lakh crore over the next two years. "This is due to a number of planned investments under its pipeline, including 5G services, oil refining and petrochemicals, renewables, and retail expansion." "In our view, the company remains committed to maintaining leverage commensurate with the rating (BBB+/Stable/--)," it said. "Management has publicly reiterated its ...

Met coal prices may fall; rate correction to help Indian steel makers: S&P

S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said it is expecting a significant fall in rates of metallurgical coal and Indian steel makers are to benefit from the price correction. "We expect lower seaborne met coal prices will help Indian steel mills, as they import 70 per cent of their total requirement," S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Anshuman Bharati said. The agency estimates that a sharp fall in seaborne metallurgical coal prices will improve cash flow and ease pressure on Indian steel producers, he said. "Our price assumptions are much lower than the average price of USD 370/tonne in 2022 and spot price of about USD 300/tonne. This is partly because we expect the supply constraints in Australia to ease over the next few months as adverse weather becomes less frequent," Bharati said. Indian steel producers are generally the most sensitive to seaborne met coal prices, as opposed to iron ore prices. This reflects India's status as the world's top importer of met coal and the fact .

S&P 500 dips, Treasury yields fall as soft data fuels recession worries

The Nasdaq joined the S&P 500 in the red, while defensive stocks helped buoy the Dow into positive territory, while 10-year Treasury yields extended their decline, touching levels last seen in Sept

S&P keeps India's economic growth forecast unchanged at 6% in FY24

S&P Global Ratings on Monday kept its forecast for India's economic growth unchanged at 6 per cent in the fiscal year starting April 1, before rising to 6.9 per cent in the following year. In the quarterly economic update for Asia-Pacific, S&P saw inflation rate easing to 5 per cent in 2023-24 fiscal, from 6.8 per cent in the current financial year. It saw India's gross domestic product (GDP) likely growing by 7 per cent in the current financial year ending March 31 (2022-23), before slowing to 6 per cent in the next 2023-24 fiscal. "India leads, with average growth of 7 per cent in 2024-2026," the update said. GDP is projected to rise to 6.9 per cent in the following two financial years -- 2024-25 and 2025-26 and rising to 7.1 per cent in 2026-27. "In India, domestic demand has traditionally led the economy. But it has become more sensitive to the global cycle lately, in part due to rising commodity exports; and its year-on-year GDP growth slowed to 4.4 per cent in the fourth

Indian banks can endure global banking turmoil fallout: S&P Global Ratings

S&P also said Indian banks had sufficient buffers to withstand losses on their sizable government securities portfolio due to rising interest rates

S&P affirms Adani International Container Terminal's issue rating at 'BBB-'

S&P said AICTPL's debt is fully secured and has cash flow waterfalls that prioritise operating expenditure and debt service over distributions

S&P puts Adani Transmission's ESG rating under review on governance issues

Will closely monitor developments, including any investigations by the Indian regulators and any additional disclosures by the Adani group, S&P said in a statement

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Budget slow on fiscal consolidation, ambitious on revenue target: S&P

According to the monthly Asia-Pacific Credit Focus, the govt will also look to cap subsidy expenditure in the upcoming year, against a surprise rise in FY23 owing to surging fertilizer and food prices