Highlights for quarter and year ended December 31, 2020:

• Income from operations for the quarter up 28.6% and for the year 2020 up 14.4%
  
• Profit after tax for the quarter grew by 15.4% and for the year 2020 by 3.1%
  
• Final dividend of Rs 14 per share recommended. Total dividend of Rs 33 per share for theyear 2020 vs. Rs 32 per share previous year
  

The Board of Directors of CRISIL Ltd, at its meeting today, approved the audited financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2020.

CRISIL’s consolidated income from operations for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, rose 28.6% to Rs 597.2 crore, compared with Rs 464.3 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2019. Consolidated total income for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, was up 26.4% to Rs 612.2 crore, compared with Rs 484.3 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The appreciating rupee had an impact on the quarter. Profit after tax for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, was Rs 110.0 crore, compared with Rs 95.3 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Results for the quarter includes Greenwich Associates LLC (Greenwich) acquired in Q1 2020. Excluding Greenwich, consolidated income from operations for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, was higher by 2.6% and profit after tax higher by 16.2% compared with the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

For the year ended December 31, 2020, consolidated income from operations was up 14.4% to Rs 1,981.8 crore, compared with Rs 1,731.7 crore in the corresponding period of 2019. Consolidated total income increased 14.4% to Rs 2,076.3 crore, compared with Rs 1,814.5 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Consolidated profit after tax was Rs 354.7 crore, compared with Rs 344.0 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Consolidated income from operations for the year ended December 31, 2020, was higher by 1.4% and profit after tax up by 17.8% compared with the previous year, excluding the financials of Greenwich.

During 2020, the company paid three interim dividends totaling Rs 19 per equity share of face value of Re 1 each. The Board of Directors has recommended a final dividend of Rs 14 per share (of Re 1 face value). The total dividend for the year works out to Rs 33 per share.

Says Ashu Suyash, Managing Director & CEO, CRISIL, “Through a year like none other, CRISIL’s businesses demonstrated resilience serving all its clientele with best in class insights, opinions and analytics. This coupled with our proactive pandemic response has enabled continued growth through 2020. The differentiated positioning and high quality of our offerings, global client delivery capabilities and strong client relationships will enable our businesses benefit from the expected economic recovery across the markets we operate. Our thrust on investments in technology, talent and new offerings over the years positions CRISIL well for the future.”

During the year, corporate bond market issuances rose by 7.9% by value year-on-year, while by volume they fell 8.1%. In this environment, our differentiated positioning and quality of ratings enabled significant client wins. Constrained credit growth impacted the mid-corporate group, which offset growth in the Ratingssegment. Global Analytical Center (GAC) increased surveillance delegation and coverage on research and criteria support, and partnered S&P Global Ratings for ESG products. The Ratings segment registered healthy growth of 6.5% in Q4 and 3.7% for the whole 2020.

CRISIL also completed the segregation of its credit ratings business into a wholly owned subsidiary, CRISIL Ratings Ltd, during Q4. This is pursuant to changes in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulations, which required segregation of the ratings and non-ratings businesses of credit rating agencies. The segregation also follows the scheme of arrangement approved by the National Company Law Tribunal, and has no impact on the company’s businesses and its stakeholders.

In the Research segment, the Global Research & Analytics business saw client wins and continued to grow through Q4. In addition to traditional areas such as model and traded risk, the business witnessed traction in non-financial and credit risk. India Research introduced new analytics (www.crisil.com/covid19-insights) and district-level risk tracking dashboards to aid decision making as the pandemic unfolded. The business also launched India’s first AIF benchmarks. Greenwich saw good performance and was a key contributor to the segment’s growth. But weak performance of Coalition, which saw headwinds due to cost pressures faced by global banks, offset this. The segment’s year-on-year revenue growth was 40.9% in Q4 and 22.8% for 2020. Excluding Greenwich, revenue was lower by 1.0% in Q4 and higher by 1.2% for 2020.

The Advisory segment saw good traction during Q4. New mandates were won in the areas of regulatory reporting, credit risk and select city infrastructure projects. However, delays in clients’ decision making and implementation affected business. Overall, the segment grew a healthy 16.9% during the quarter, although the full year revenue was lower by 5.9%.

Towards ensuring minimal impact on clients and people, the company moved to a mandatory work from home for employees in late March, which continued through 2020 across most locations. This year, CRISIL launched a host of health and safety initiatives, and employee engagement and wellness sessions. Information security, governance and technology support also saw enhanced emphasis. Because of proactive investments in people and technology, all businesses remained fully functional through 2020 and continued to deliver seamlessly to clients and stakeholders. The company has put in place a work from office resumption plan that would be implemented based on location-specific considerations.

The company won recognitions including Great Workplace™, 100 Best Companies for Women, the Most Ethical Business Group, and the Fair Business Practices Award. It was also recognised at the India Workplace Equality Index Employers 2020 Summit for diversity and inclusion and at the FICCI CSR Excellence Awards 2019 in the category of ‘Women Empowerment’.

The year saw greater emphasis on franchise activity and thought-leadership that enabled stakeholders to decrypt volatile trends across markets. Through 2020, over 70 virtual events and roundtables were hosted, over 50 publications and over 25 whitepapers were released. During Q4, the fifth edition of our flagship NBFC seminar, and the first edition of India Investment Research Conclave were held, which saw very good response. Ratings Analytica, a personalised portal and mobile application (app) enabling a one-stop platform for the ratings requirements of clients, was also launched.

Apart from continued expansion of Mein Pragati, our financial inclusion program, and CRISIL Re, our environmental conservation initiative, CRISIL Foundation focused on serving the needs of the society arising from the pandemic. It served over 500,000 meals to migrant workers and labourers in Mumbai, as also extended treatment support through contribution for oxygen cylinders and personal protection equipment kits across several locations. More than 40,000 trees were also planted by CRISIL Foundation towards reducing carbon footprint which translates to over 800 MT of CO2 emissions saved annually.