ICRA is fundamentally an opinion factory - it tells lenders and investors how likely a borrower is to repay, and it sells the data and software that banks use to make those same judgements themselves. It began in 1991 as a homegrown credit rating agency, promoted by Indian financial institutions, and over three decades evolved into a diversified knowledge partner by layering on research outsourcing, then regulatory technology, and most recently ESG ratings - all while majority-owned by Moody’s since 2014. The recurring approach is to combine deep domain expertise built over 35 years with technology and AI augmentation, maintaining analytical rigour whether it is assigning a rating to a bond or building a compliance platform for a bank. # Business segments Three engines at different stages - a regulated credit-rating franchise that anchors the group, a knowledge-services export business with two decades of stability, and a product-led technology platform for banks stitched together through recent acquisitions - each built on the credibility and cash flows of the one before. ## 1. Ratings and ancillary services: the opinion business that everything else rests on **ICRA assigns a letter grade to debt - from AAA to D - and charges a fee for every rating it issues and monitors, in a business protected by regulation and built on a 35-year track record of getting those calls right.** - **Paid by the issuer, not the investor** - companies and financial institutions pay ICRA a one-time fee to rate their bonds, commercial paper or bank loans, and then an annual surveillance fee to keep that rating current, with demand driven by bond market activity and regulatory mandates that require certain instruments to be rated. - **The licence is the moat** - credit rating agencies in India are barred from carrying out any non-rating activity except those specifically permitted by SEBI, and ICRA is one of the select few registered to do this work, with a leading position in bank loan ratings and securitization transactions. - **Research feeds the franchise** - the segment also sells industry reports and credit perspective documents on more than 60 sectors to mutual funds, banks and consulting firms, and in FY26 launched an AI-driven tool that converts that research into actionable insights. - **ESG ratings are the newest bolt-on** - through a wholly owned subsidiary registered as a Category-I ESG Rating Provider, ICRA now evaluates companies on environmental, social and governance metrics under an issuer-pays model, with its portfolio more than tripling to eighteen entities in its second year. ## 2. Research and analytics: the data-and-software engine sold to banks **What started as a research-outsourcing arm two decades ago is now an integrated platform of three divisions - KnowTech, BankTech and CapTech - that supplies data management, risk software and market intelligence to financial institutions, with a growing share coming from product sales rather than services.** - **KnowTech: the export backbone** - this division provides data management, financial modelling and ESG analytics to global clients, has never missed a service-level agreement in 20 years, and earns entirely in foreign exchange, though growth has moderated as some engagements ended and automation reduced demand for traditional data work. - **BankTech: regulatory tailwinds built into code** - it sells credit-risk platforms, early-warning systems and expected-credit-loss solutions to banks, with demand sustained by India’s move to an expected-loss accounting framework effective April 2027 and by regulators continually issuing new reporting requirements. - **CapTech: the daily utility for fund managers** - ICRA is the trusted provider of fixed-income valuations to mutual funds and portfolio managers, performing this market-critical role every day for all outstanding bonds held by clients, and it maintains a mutual-fund database stretching back over 20 years. - **Bought, not just built** - the segment was reshaped by two acquisitions: D2K Technologies, a digital-transformation firm for banks now fully owned, and Fintellix, a product-led RegTech company acquired in late 2025 for about US$ 27.9 million that serves over 30 institutions across India, the UK and the US with a proprietary data-management platform. - **Unified under one roof** - in FY26 the three divisions were brought under a common product-engineering and IT organisation, enabling standardised architecture and scalable development, though the shift toward BankTech and CapTech means the segment’s margin profile is structurally different from the older KnowTech business. # Group structure and partners **ICRA sits inside the Moody’s orbit but operates as an independent listed company, with a web of subsidiaries that extend its reach from Indian credit ratings to banking software in South Africa and the US.** - Moody’s Group holds 51.87% of ICRA and provides analytical and technical support through a formal agreement, giving ICRA access to globally benchmarked practices while it continues to deliver independent ratings and research to the Indian market. - ICRA Analytics has partnership arrangements with global data providers including FactSet, Bloomberg, Moody’s Analytics and ICE to service larger markets, and ICRA co-develops fixed-income indices with FTSE-Russell.