CRISIL Ratings upgrades Jindal Stainless rating to 'AA-/Stable'

7 Jan 2022 , 03:35 PM

On NSE, Jindal Stainless announced on Friday that it earned a major rating upgrade from CRISIL Ratings, with the agency assigning ‘CRISIL AA-/Stable’ rating to the long-term bank facilities of the Company.

The previously assigned rating was ‘CRISIL A+/Stable’. JSL’s short-term bank facilities have been reaffirmed at ‘CRISIL A1+’.

As per CRISIL, this upgrade underlines significant improvement in business risk profile of JSL, along with Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited (JSHL), and a sustainable improvement in the operating efficiency of the company driven by better per tonne EBITDA levels.

Managing Director, JSL, Abhyuday Jindal said, “This rating upgrade re-validates our market leadership position as a trustworthy and consistent business player. The Company has delivered a strong performance despite being susceptible to input cost volatility and cyclicality in the stainless steel industry, while competing with dumped Indonesian and Chinese imports. JSL is undertaking capex for brownfield expansion that will further improve its domestic and global footprints.”

In its regulatory filing, Jindal Stainless outlined that this upgrade acknowledgesimprovement in the financial risk profile of JSL, led by strong liquidity, deleveraged balance sheet, and minimal long-term debt obligation over the medium term. It factors in the market leadership position of the Jindal Stainless group (JSL and JSHL) in the domestic stainless steel industry in terms of manufacturing capacity, sales volume, and sizeable export presence.

Also, CRISIL upgraded its rating on the long-term bank facilities of JHSL to ‘CRISIL AA-/Stable’ from ‘CRISIL A+/Stable’, and also assigned its ‘CRISIL A1+’ rating on the short-term bank facilities of JSHL.

The company’s stock on NSE ended at Rs195.20 per piece down by 1.5%.