Acuité Ratings & Research Limited (www.acuite.in)is a technology-enabled, full-service credit rating agency registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and accredited by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Company received RBI Accreditation as an External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI), for Bank Loan Ratings under BASEL-II norms in the year 2012. Since then, it has assigned more than 9600+ credit ratings to various securities, debt instruments and bank facilities of entities spread across the country and across a wide section of industries. Acuité rates bonds, debentures, commercial paper, fixed deposits and various fund-based and non-fund-based bank facilities. Apart from credit ratings, Acuité’s expertise includes economic research, industry research, financial modelling, rating modelling, and development of software applications.
SMERA Ratings Private Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Acuité Ratings & Research Ltd. SMERA (www.smeraonline.com) is world's first SME-focused rating agency providing credit ratings of Indian micro and small enterprises. SMERA's services are aimed at empowering the SME ecosystem by promoting transparency, building trust and facilitating lending decisions. SMERA, which morphed from an initiative of the Ministry of Finance and RBI back in 2005, has built an enviable record of conducting more than 50,000 ratings till date.
International Finance Corporation (IFC) recognized SMERA as a novel and sustainable initiative of the Government of India, to improve the credit flow to the MSME sector. In 2007, the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) awarded SIDBI with "Outstanding Development Project Award" under the SME Development Category, for setting up SMERA. This award was a recognition of the Indian initiative to enhance credit flow to credit-constrained SME sector for developing its SME sector. SMERA was also a recipient of the Technical Assistance Grant by DFID, UK under World Bank’s ‘Project on SME Financing & Development’.
ESG Risk Assessments & Insights Ltd.(ESGRisk.ai), another wholly owned subsidiary of Acuité Ratings & Research Ltd., is India’s first ESG Rating company and a pioneer in bringing ESG assessments to investors and corporates. Currently, ESG assessment reports and ratings of over 1000 listed Indian companies can be accessed via “ESG 360 Degree” subscription platform of ESGrisk.ai. ESGRisk.ai’s ratings are an objective, independent and unbiased opinion on a company’s ability to mitigate emerging risks associated with Environment, Social, and Governance issues that have a material financial impact. ESG ratings foster informed decision-making while choosing ESG investments, assessing a particular company's or industry's performance, reviewing ESG business strategies and identifying the need for policy interventions.
Apart from ESG ratings of listed companies, ESGRisk.ai also provides ESG assessments of unlisted companies and ESG Gap Analysis. ESGRisk.ai has also launched India's first ESG Leadership Awards based on a very detailed methodology.