SMERA

SME Rating Agency of India Limited (SMERA) is a third party rating agency exclusively set up for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in India for ratings on creditworthiness. It provides ratings which enable MSME units to raise bank loans at competitive rates of interest. However, its registration with Securities Exchange Board of India SEBI as a Credit Rating Agency and accreditation by Reserve Bank of India RBI in September 2012 as an external credit assessment institution (ECAI) to rate bank loan ratings under Basel II guidelines has paved way for SMERA to rate/grade various instruments such as: IPO, Bonds, Security Receipts, Bank Loan Instruments etc. In addition to this, RBI has told that Banks may use ratings of SME Rating Agency of India (SMERA), in addition to grades provided by other agencies, to assign risks to loans for the purpose of computing capital adequacy requirements. He agency was founded in 2005 by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI),Dun & Bradstreet Information Services India Private Limited (D&B) and several leading Govt., Public, Private and MNC banks in the country.

Achievements
(1) SMERA has pioneered SME ratings in the country and has till date completed over 23,000 ratings across sectors and geographies on a PAN India basis. SMERA Ratings have gained wide acceptability and are now an integral part of the risk assessment process within the lending and investing community. (2) The Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP) has awarded SIDBI with "Outstanding Development Project Award" for setting up SMERA. The award was given under the SME Development Category during the 30th ADFIAP Annual Meeting held on May 10, 2007 at Hanoi, Vietnam. (3) SMERA has also been registered under Securities and Exchange Board of India (Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations, 1999 making it only the sixth rating agency in India to rate issues such as IPO, bonds, commercial papers, security receipts and others.