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Informist, Tuesday, May 26, 2026

 

By J. Navya Sruthi and Cassandra Carvalho 

 

MUMBAI – Ratings agency CareEdge's Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer Mehul Pandya expects regulators to provide "a bit of moratorium", similar to that offered during the COVID-19 pandemic, to sectors that have been hit hard by the war in West Asia. The agency has recommended relief measures for export-dependent sectors such as seafood, textiles, and gems and jewellery, and also for sectors that see discretionary spending, Pandya told Informist at CareEdge's Debt Market Summit.

 

"Beyond these sector-wise exposures, I think if any intervention is required for a specific sector or SMEs (small and medium enterprises) and MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises), over there I think the regulator is quite open (to provide relief)," Pandya said. "So, both from the government side as well as from the regulator side, I think there is a positivity on this that should any sector be subjected to any intense kind of volatility as far as their cash flows are concerned, there could be a support mechanism which can be devised." 

 

Pandya does not expect "a blanket moratorium" across sectors. "...but should anything be required specific to a particular sector, maybe some mechanism can be thought of", he said.

 

CareEdge is observing export-dependent, import-dependent, and other sectors facing supply disruptions because of the war in West Asia, Pandya said. While the financial results for 2025–26 (Apr-Mar) of companies in these sectors did not indicate crisis-related impact, the extended disruption of supply chains and to cash flows of these companies is being "very closely" watched by the agency, he said.

 

The managing director said the war in West Asia is being considered with "absolute seriousness". While India was in a slightly sweeter spot initially, developments and announcements about the war between the US and Iran are a clear indication that the country is heading for a situation with some potential disruption, he said.

 

Currently, it is a wait-and-watch situation and the next 3-6 months have to be monitored closely, Pandya said. "If it (the war) does not stabilise, and it takes slightly longer for supplies to get restored, in that case, we could be witnessing some impact as far as the overall financial year is concerned," he said.

 

Commenting on credit growth among banks for small and medium enterprises after the launch of the government's Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme 5.0, Pandya said banks and non-banking finance companies are viewing this closely. "We actually have not seen any kind of credit cost increasing in this segment very sharply. But should this (the war) continue, we could be having a different conjecture altogether."

 

Pandya said CareEdge has not yet aggressively lowered the credit rating of any sector. Its credit ratio is still on a positive trajectory despite a year-on-year decline. CareEdge's credit ratio was 1.93 for the second-half of FY26, down from 2.35 during the same period a year ago. The credit ratio was 2.56 in the first-half of FY26.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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