India’s Brickwork Ratings said it is considering “appropriate legal recourse” after the country’s market regulator ordered the credit rating firm to wind down operations within six months, citing repeated lapses and violations.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in a rare order on Thursday, cancelled Brickwork’s registration certificate and prevented it from taking on new business, saying multiple probes found violations such as delay in recognition of default of non-convertible debentures and failure to review ratings even after receiving information about delayed payments.
“Brickwork Ratings finds the recent allegations to be a shocking development,” it said in a statement late on Friday, adding it had taken “timely course correction measures” in line with regulatory instructions.
The rating agency “is fully cooperating with the authorities to ensure all compliances are satisfactorily met. In parallel, the company is also considering appropriate legal recourse in the matter,” it said.
SEBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours.
The regulator said it has investigated Brickworks on several occasions and had undertaken a joint inspection with the India’s central bank.
SEBI has been tightening disclosure rules for credit rating agencies since 2016 in a bid to boost transparency and accountability after a number of sudden sharp changes to corporate ratings.
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