'Companies' rating downgrades improve in second half of 2012'
'Companies' rating downgrades improve in second half of 2012'
Mumbai: Ratings agency Icra on Wednesday said the pace of rating
downgrades moderated in the second half of 2012.  The rating
downgrades stood at 9.5 percent in H2 of 2012, which improved
from 10.3 percent in the same period a year ago, Icra said in a
statement here.  However, downgrades are still at an elevated
level, the agency said.  More than half of the companies
downgraded began the reporting period (July 2012) with a non-
investment grade rating, Icra said in a report.  "The
difficulties in the operating environment also impacted the
credit profiles of borrowers in the lower investment grades."  A
slew of factors, both domestic as well as international, have
been blamed for the gloomy economic scenario and India's GDP
growth is expected to fall to 5.5 percent levels a decadal low,
this fiscal.  The sectors which witnessed the maximum downgrades
included textiles, power and power-r