Frequently asked questions
Is Crisil a buy at current prices?
DalalBytes rates Crisil Selective Positive at 77/100. It is one of India's finest listed businesses: first rating agency, 66.6% owned by S&P Global, about 30% operating margins, Rs 61 per share of dividends for calendar 2025, and H1 2026 revenue up 28.8% to Rs 2,133 crore with PAT up 35.7% to Rs 450 crore. The selective part is price: at Rs 4,423.80 it trades at about 36.6x trailing earnings, a premium to ICRA at about 21x and CARE at about 26x, leaving little room for a credit slowdown or GenAI disappointment.
What are Crisil's FY2029 price targets?
DalalBytes' FY2029 targets for Crisil are bear Rs 3,480, base Rs 5,870, and bull Rs 8,700, from a Rs 4,423.80 reference price. Crisil reports on a December year-end, so FY2029 is the year ending December 2029. Bear: 8% revenue CAGR, 19% PAT margin, 24x exit. Base: 13% CAGR, 21% margin, 32x. Bull: 18% CAGR, 23% margin, 38x. The base case implies about Rs 183 of FY2029 EPS.
What is the verdict on Crisil?
Crisil has compounded revenue at about 13% and profit at about 14% over five years on a December year-end, and the first half of calendar 2026 accelerated sharply, helped by strong ratings demand and the November 2025 acquisition of McKinsey's PriceMetrix business for about US$32.9 million. The business score is higher than the stock score: the premium to peers is partly earned (Crisil is about seven times their market cap and far more diversified) and partly already collected by the price.
How did Crisil start?
Crisil was founded in 1987, promoted by ICICI and UTI, as India's first credit rating agency. It listed in 1993, and in April 2005 Standard & Poor's acquired a majority stake, plugging it into the global ratings franchise and a worldwide delivery model. Research grew alongside ratings, and the Coalition and Greenwich acquisitions built a global banking analytics arm, now Crisil Coalition Greenwich, alongside Crisil Integral IQ and Crisil Intelligence.
What does Crisil sell?
Two segments. Ratings services earned Rs 1,079 crore in calendar 2025, up 18.4%, at a 44.3% segment margin: corporate, bank loan, structured finance and SME ratings, with leadership in corporate bond ratings. Research, Analytics and Solutions earned the balance of the Rs 3,649 crore total: India intelligence, global research and risk support for financial institutions, and benchmarking for banking and wealth, now including PriceMetrix.
What do Crisil's financials show?
Revenue rose from Rs 2,301 crore (calendar 2021) to Rs 3,649 crore (calendar 2025), with operating profit of Rs 1,085 crore at about 30% margin and PAT of Rs 766 crore (EPS Rs 104.75). Calendar 2024 was the soft year, with revenue growth of only about 4% as global banks cut discretionary spending. H1 2026 then jumped: Q1 revenue Rs 1,058 crore, up 30.1%, PAT Rs 233 crore, up 45.9%; Q2 revenue Rs 1,075 crore, up 27.6%, PAT Rs 217 crore, up 26.2%. Part of the 2026 growth is acquired, via PriceMetrix, and Q2 profit eased sequentially from Q1, so annualising the first half would overstate it.
Who does Crisil compete with?
Domestic ratings is a regulated oligopoly: ICRA, CARE Ratings, India Ratings, Acuite, Brickwork and Infomerics, with real barriers in SEBI registration, default-study history and investor acceptance. Global analytics is a different fight, against consultancies, captives and data platforms, where contracts are contestable and generative AI directly targets routine research production. That split is why the moat grades partial in the companion five-pillar analysis.
Who runs Crisil, and is governance clean?
Amish Mehta, MD and CEO since 2021, delivered revenue growth from Rs 2,301 crore to Rs 3,649 crore, margin expansion and a Rs 61 per share dividend, and was reappointed for three years from October 1, 2026. The board is chaired by Yann Le Pallec of S&P Global. No governance red flag specific to Crisil was found; the permanent caveat is that minorities sit inside a controlled subsidiary whose global priorities are set with the parent at the table.
What is Crisil worth?
At Rs 4,423.80: P/E about 36.6x on TTM EPS of Rs 120.93, P/B about 10x, EV/EBITDA about 26x, dividend yield about 1.4%. Crisil deserves the sector's highest multiple and is already receiving it, plus a little more. FY2029 scenarios, on a December year-end and modelled from estimated calendar 2026 revenue of about Rs 4,425 crore: bear Rs 3,480 (8% CAGR, 19% PAT margin, 24x), base Rs 5,870 (13% CAGR, 21% margin, 32x, EPS about Rs 183), bull Rs 8,700 (18% CAGR, 23% margin, 38x). The base case is about 33% above the reference price over three years, a fair, not exciting, return for an excellent business.
What are the key risks for Crisil?
Valuation first, then ratings cyclicality (bond issuance and bank credit drive the highest-margin segment), GenAI disruption to research pricing, parent and global-client concentration in delegated work, the structural issuer-pays conflict, PriceMetrix goodwill of about Rs 213 crore, foreign exchange swings (a gain in Q1 2026, a loss in Q2), and tightening SEBI oversight of rating agencies.
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