Mrs. Roopa Kudva, Executive Director & Chief Rating Officer heads the ratings business of CRISIL. Ms Kudva, an alumna of the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad, joined CRISIL in 1992. She has also worked in emerging markets in the Mediterranean and Middle East countries during her secondment to Standard & Poor’s, Paris, as Director, Financial Institutions Ratings.

With India Inc. on an expansion spree, the financing of such activities becomes a major focus area. Organizations rely on a favourable credit rating to raise funds. The task of a credit rating agency is very difficult since even a slight misjudgment in assessment of an organization can in turn affect its own reputation.

Ms. Kudva started the lecture by a brief introduction to the concept of credit rating. She also clarified that a credit rating must not be misunderstood to be an audit of the issuing company or a general purpose certification of goodness of a company and neither is it a recommendation to buy, hold or sell the rated security. She clearly delineated the purpose of credit ratings on a global, national and local scale. The various aspects of a credit risk framework and the key principles involved were explained in a very lucid manner. There was an in-depth discussion on the key elements to be considered while carrying out the business risk assessment for an organization. The session served as an ideal launch pad for students looking to pursue a career in this domain.