Thaindian News

Mumbai, May 17 (IANS) India’s rating major ICRA Ltd will now offer credit rating services in Sri Lanka with its subsidiary ICRA Lanka Ltd being granted registration by the island nation’s Security and Exchange Commission, a company official said here Tuesday.

This will be ICRA’s new overseas venture, the first one being its JV in Indonesia, PT.ICRA Indonesia, started last year.

ICRA Lanka director W. Don Barnabas said there is optimism in the country of being able to achieve high growth rates in the coming years which would be driven by the development of capital markets.

“Though we have a small but relatively developed equity market, the debt market is still in its infancy. There is great scope to develop this market, which would help the ratings business in Sri Lanka,” he added.

ICRA vice chairman and group CEO P.K. Choudhary said Sri Lanka holds a lot of promise for the future and ICRA has entered at a right juncture.

“With the decades-long war now over, the country appears poised to move up onto a higher growth trajectory and ICRA can contribute towards the development of Sri Lanka’s capital markets and participate in that growth,” Choudhary said.

ICRA managing director and CEO Naresh Takkar explained that the macro environment in Sri Lanka has improved considerably during the last two years and expressed optimism over increased growth rates now.

The Sri Lankan economy had reported growth rates of around 6 percent even during difficult periods, and last year’s 8 percent indicated an upturn, providing an opportunity to grow in that country, Takkar said.