India’s credit rating industry sits at the foundation of the country’s entire debt market, since no public bond can legally be issued without a rating from a SEBI-registered agency, and larger issues typically carry dual ratings from two separate agencies to give investors additional confidence. The regulatory landscape expanded meaningfully in 2026, with SEBI approving amendments in January to the Credit Rating Agencies Regulations, 1999, permitting agencies to rate financial instruments falling within the purview of other regulators including the RBI and IRDAI, while simultaneously mandating clearer structural separation between SEBI-regulated and non-SEBI-regulated rating activities. The number of officially registered credit rating agencies has grown from seven to nine as of June 2026, with CredStone Ratings receiving SEBI registration that same month, following Acer Credit Rating’s registration in August 2025, even as CRISIL, ICRA, and CARE continue to dominate the market by volume and institutional trust. Let us have a look at the top 10 credit rating agencies operating in India in 2026.
1. CRISIL Ratings Limited
CRISIL, incorporated in 1987 and headquartered in Mumbai, was India’s first credit rating agency and remains the largest by market presence, having rated over 35,000 large and mid-scale corporates and financial institutions, with industry commentary noting it effectively rates one out of every two rated companies in the country. Originally promoted by ICICI and UTI with contributions from SBI and LIC, the agency became a subsidiary of S&P Global following the American firm’s 2005 majority stake acquisition, and received SEBI approval for ESG scoring in India in April 2024, further expanding its service offerings beyond traditional debt ratings.
CRISIL Ratings serves banks, NBFCs, PSUs, manufacturing companies, financial institutions, state governments, and urban local bodies with the full range of debt instrument ratings from bank loans and commercial paper to infrastructure investment trusts, and its unmatched combination of first-mover history, S&P Global methodological alignment, and sheer rated-entity volume confirms its position as the benchmark credit rating agency in the country.
2. ICRA Limited
ICRA Limited, established in 1991 and headquartered in Gurugram, operates as an affiliate of Moody’s Ratings, with the American ratings giant holding an indirect stake of roughly 52 percent and supporting ICRA through a technical services agreement that grants access to Moody’s global research base and regular analyst training. The agency went public in April 2007, listing on both the BSE and NSE, and has built particular leadership positions in high-growth sectors including BFSI and infrastructure, alongside specialised offerings spanning corporate governance ratings, mutual fund ratings, and structured finance ratings.
ICRA Limited serves commercial banks, NBFCs, PSUs, manufacturing companies, and municipal bodies with rupee-denominated debt instrument ratings distinguished by its bracketed [ICRA] notation, and its status as the second-largest rating agency in the country combined with genuine access to Moody’s global methodological framework confirms its position as one of the two most influential credit rating agencies operating in India.
3. CARE Ratings Limited (CareEdge)
CARE Ratings, launched in April 1993 as Credit Analysis and Research Limited and now operating under the CareEdge brand, has built a reputation as a knowledge-based organisation offering near-real-time research across national and international economic trends through a dedicated industry research team. The agency introduced a novel methodology in 2024 to rate the financial health of sovereign countries issuing debt, built around five key analytical pillars, extending its rating expertise beyond corporate and financial institution assessments into sovereign credit analysis.
CARE Ratings serves manufacturing, infrastructure, and financial sector clients including banks and non-financial services companies with comprehensive credit rating and continuous economic research, and its expansion into sovereign debt rating methodology alongside its established corporate rating franchise confirms its position among the three most trusted and widely recognised credit rating agencies in the country.
4. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra)
India Ratings and Research, established in 1995 and headquartered in Mumbai, operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Fitch Group, giving it direct access to Fitch’s global rating methodologies and providing comprehensive credit assessments across corporate issuers, financial institutions, and infrastructure projects. The agency uses the distinctive IND AAA notation format to differentiate its ratings from competitors, and is dually recognised by both SEBI and the RBI, reflecting its authority across both securities market and banking sector rating mandates.
India Ratings and Research serves corporate issuers, financial institutions, and infrastructure project sponsors with Fitch-methodology-aligned credit assessments, and its position as the Indian subsidiary of one of the world’s three major global rating agencies gives it a distinctive international credibility that positions it firmly among the top four domestic credit rating agencies by institutional trust.
5. Acuite Ratings & Research Limited
Acuite Ratings & Research, formerly known as SMERA Ratings, is a SEBI-registered and RBI-accredited credit rating agency co-promoted by Dun & Bradstreet, the global data and analytics company, offering Bond and Bank Loan Ratings alongside economic analysis and financial research services. The agency has built particular strength serving small and mid-sized private corporates alongside prominent public sector organisations including the Nuclear Power Corporation, and operates a dedicated Centre of Excellence responsible for developing rating criteria and strengthening internal processes.
Acuite Ratings & Research serves small and mid-sized private corporates alongside select large public sector organisations across banking, telecom, IT, steel, aviation, and retail sectors, and its Dun & Bradstreet co-promotion combined with its dedicated criteria-development infrastructure makes it one of the more institutionally credible mid-tier agencies for issuers whose scale falls below what the largest four agencies typically prioritise.
6. Brickwork Ratings India Private Limited
Brickwork Ratings, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Bengaluru, is a SEBI-registered and RBI-accredited credit rating agency with Canara Bank serving as its strategic partner and promoter, providing ratings for non-convertible debentures, bank loans, fixed deposits, security receipts, commercial paper, and securitised paper. The agency’s banking-sector promoter relationship gives it a distinctive institutional grounding among India’s mid-tier rating agencies, particularly for issuers with existing banking relationships tied to its promoter network.
Brickwork Ratings serves issuers of NCDs, bank loans, fixed deposits, and securitised instruments with SEBI-registered and RBI-accredited credit assessments, and its Canara Bank promoter backing gives it a distinctive institutional credibility for issuers seeking a bank-affiliated rating agency alongside the independent global-affiliated majors that dominate the largest corporate rating mandates.
7. INFOMERICS Valuation and Rating Private Limited
INFOMERICS, whose name stands for Integrated Financial Omnibus Metrics Research of International Corporate Systems, is a SEBI-registered and RBI-accredited credit rating agency headquartered in New Delhi with offices across the country, evaluating and rating the creditworthiness of banks, NBFCs, small and medium scale units, and large corporations. The agency additionally provides specialised ratings for construction entities, engineering and management institutions, and initial public offerings, giving it a notably broader ratings mandate than some of its similarly sized competitors.
INFOMERICS serves banks, NBFCs, SMEs, large corporations, and IPO issuers with a distinctively broad ratings mandate extending into construction and educational institution assessments, and its comprehensive coverage across both financial and non-financial rating categories makes it one of the more versatile mid-tier credit rating agencies for issuers with specialised or niche rating requirements.
8. SAG RTA / SAG Infotech-affiliated Rating Services
SAG RTA, operated by the established financial technology firm SAG Infotech with more than two decades of experience in financial and tax filing software solutions, has expanded into registrar and rating-adjacent compliance services, furnishing services such as dividend payments via ECS transfers and dematerialisation of securities through CDSL and NSDL depositories alongside mandatory SEBI-aligned compliance support. The firm’s roots in financial technology give it a distinctive back-office and compliance-automation capability that complements traditional rating and registry functions.
SAG RTA-affiliated services serve issuers and investors requiring integrated compliance, dematerialisation, and dividend-processing support alongside standard credit assessment needs, and its financial technology heritage gives it a distinctive automation-forward positioning among the smaller players operating at the intersection of credit rating compliance and registry services.
9. Acer Credit Rating
Acer Credit Rating, incorporated in January 2024, received its SEBI registration in August 2025, becoming one of the newest entrants to join India’s community of officially recognised credit rating agencies. The agency’s recent entry reflects the regulator’s continued willingness to expand the number of registered rating agencies beyond the traditional big-three incumbents, part of a broader trend that has seen the total registered agency count grow from six to nine over the past several years.
Acer Credit Rating serves issuers seeking an alternative to the more established incumbent agencies as it builds out its rating coverage and market presence, and its status as one of the newest SEBI-registered credit rating agencies makes it a name worth watching as the competitive dynamics of India’s rating industry continue to evolve beyond the traditional dominant players.
10. CredStone Ratings Private Limited
CredStone Ratings, incorporated in November 2020 and headquartered in Mumbai, received its SEBI registration in May 2026, making it the newest officially recognised credit rating agency in the country as of the most recent regulatory updates. The agency’s entry into the market reflects continued regulatory openness to new participants even as the credit rating industry remains dominated by its long-established incumbents, expanding the total number of SEBI-registered agencies to nine.
CredStone Ratings serves issuers as the most recently registered participant in India’s credit rating industry, positioned to build its market presence and rated-entity base over the coming years, and its arrival alongside Acer Credit Rating demonstrates that India’s credit rating landscape continues to gradually diversify beyond its historically concentrated big-three structure even as CRISIL, ICRA, and CARE retain the vast majority of market share and institutional trust.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Which is the largest credit rating agency in India?
A: CRISIL Ratings is considered the largest and most influential credit rating agency in India by market share and historical precedence, having rated over 35,000 large and mid-scale entities since becoming the country’s first credit rating agency in 1987, though ICRA and CARE Ratings are equally recognised across most debt instrument categories.
Q: How many credit rating agencies are registered with SEBI in 2026?
A: As of June 2026, nine credit rating agencies are officially registered with SEBI in India, up from seven previously, following the addition of Acer Credit Rating in August 2025 and CredStone Ratings in May 2026, alongside the long-established CRISIL, ICRA, CARE Ratings, India Ratings and Research, Acuite Ratings & Research, Brickwork Ratings, and Infomerics.
Q: What is the difference between a credit rating and a credit score?
A: A credit rating evaluates whether a company, government, or debt instrument can repay its obligations, expressed as a letter grade such as AAA or BB by agencies like CRISIL, ICRA, and CARE, while a credit score evaluates an individual’s ability to repay a personal loan or credit card, expressed as a number typically between 300 and 900 and calculated by credit bureaus rather than credit rating agencies.
Q: What changed under SEBI’s January 2026 amendments to credit rating regulations?
A: SEBI approved amendments in January 2026 to the Credit Rating Agencies Regulations, 1999, permitting credit rating agencies to rate financial instruments within the purview of other financial regulators such as the RBI and IRDAI, while simultaneously mandating clearer structural separation between SEBI-regulated and non-SEBI-regulated rating activities within each agency.
Q: Why can the same bond receive different ratings from different agencies?
A: Rating splits occur when agencies apply differing methodologies, information weighting, or analyst judgment to the same instrument, for example an issuer being rated AA+ by CRISIL and AA by ICRA, and where such splits exist and are disclosed in the offer document, most institutional investors treat the more conservative, lower rating as the operative credit signal for investment decisions.
