Sebi orders Brickwork Ratings to close store in 6 months

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday cancelled the license of Brickwork Ratings India and ordered it to wind down operations inside six months, citing failure to train correct ability, care and diligence whereas discharging its duties as a credit standing company.

The market regulator additionally barred the ranking company, promoted by Canara Bank, from taking any new purchasers or recent mandates. This is for the primary time that Sebi has cancelled the license of a credit standing company (CRA).

Vivek Kulkarni, IAS (Retd), former IT Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka, is the Founder and Managing Director of the ranking agency, in keeping with its web site. RK Nair, former ED of Sebi, and N Balasubramanian, former CMD of SIDBI, are on the board of the corporate. Sangeeta Kulkarni, founder and CEO, can be on the board. Canara Bank is its promoter and strategic associate, the web site says.

“The noticee (Brickwork Ratings) shall wind down its operations (including intimating its client about closure of its operations) within a period of six months from the date of this Order,” Sebi’s Whole Time Member Ashwani Bhatia wrote in an order on Thursday.

The order stated SEBI rules and circulars mandate credit standing businesses to provide true, truthful, applicable and correct ranking, and with a view to fulfil such obligation the upper requirements of due diligence, integrity, dignity, equity is predicted from CRA. “The noticee failed to exercise proper skill, care and diligence while discharging its duties as a credit rating agency, which has defeated the very purpose of regulations i.e. investor protection and orderly development of the securities markets,” the regulator stated within the order.

Brickwork was granted registration by SEBI within the 12 months 2008. It is without doubt one of the seven Sebi-registered credit standing businesses working within the nation. The different six businesses are Acuite Ratings & Research Ltd, Crisil Ratings Ltd, Icra Ltd, Care Ratings Ltd, India Ratings and Research Ltd, Infomerics Valuation and Ratings Ltd.

The market regulator had carried out inspections of the ranking company for the intervals April 1, 2014 –September 30, 2015 and April 1, 2017–September 30, 2018.

The order stated that in each the inspections varied violations by the ranking company, together with within the instances associated to delay or failure in reviewing scores or taking actions on non-convertible debentures (NCD) of Bhushan Steel Ltd, Gayatri Projects Ltd. Diamond Power Infrastructure Ltd. Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd, Essel Corporate Resources Pvt. Ltd. and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, was discovered.

The contraventions /deficiencies noticed in each the inspections led to initiation of separate adjudication proceedings in opposition to Brickwork, the order learn. The regulator additionally imposed financial penalties on the ranking company after each the inspections, the order said.

In January 2020, SEBI, together with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), undertook a joint inspection of the information and paperwork of the ranking company for the interval from October 1, 2018–November 30, 2019.

In the third inspection, a number of irregularities in violation of the provisions of the CRA Regulations and sure SEBI circulars had been revealed. The order said that CRAs play a essential function as gatekeepers to monetary markets and are a supply of data for buyers.

Given the important public capabilities carried out by credit standing businesses, it turns into necessary to make sure that such businesses conform to the relevant regulatory framework and have excessive requirements of diligence, it stated.

The repeated lapses, seen throughout a number of inspections carried out by SEBI, reveals that governance adjustments beneficial in earlier inspections, and financial penalties imposed haven’t proved efficient or deterred the noticee in addressing very fundamental necessities of working a CRA, the regulator stated.

“Strict regulatory action, in my considered view, is required at this juncture to address the issue and protect the market ecosystem,” Bhatia wrote within the order. BWR has rated debt devices, bonds, financial institution loans and securitized paper of Rs 19,02,200 crore. Fixed deposits and business papers value over Rs 83,555 crore have been rated. BWR has rated over 100 PSU and public sector banks, in addition to many main personal gamers.