India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), the local wing of Fitch Ratings Inc., has released its forecast for the domestic market, with Covid-19 playing havoc and talk of lockdowns in the air. It paints an optimistic picture, with the belief that partial to full lockdowns expected to be imposed by various states and union territories across the nation are likely to have a muted impact on overall business environment.
The agency in its report says it expects corporate performance to remain resilient, backed by a strong export demand and improved balance sheet conditions in the last six months. While supply chain disruptions could play out, they expect overall impact on corporate credit to be moderate to minimal, even though stresses are likely to be seen by MSME and retail borrowers. Ind-Ra expects a build-up of potential stresses in the unsecured lending books of banks, and an increase in softer delinquencies in the microfinance institutions segment. The assessment could change if there were to be a stringent national lockdown or a protracted normalisation of activities due to the pandemic.