It appears that the positive signals in the economy are translating into better financial positions for companies in some way or the other. More corporates today appear to be in a better position to repay their debt. The rating of instruments from corporates displayed lesser downgraded instruments in September 1999 as compared to May this year.

In September, a total of 120 instruments worth Rs 1,25,379 crore were rated. Out of this, 21 per cent were downgraded, 30 per cent were reaffirmed and newly assigned ratings. Compared to this in May 1999, 31 per cent of the instruments were downgraded. The exceptionally large amount involved in rating during the month was due to CARE re-affirming ratings of all the outstanding instruments of IDBI and ICICI worth over Rs 90,000 crore.