ICRA attributes LAA+ rating to bonds prog of Kotak Mahindra

New Delhi, Mar 8 (UNI) The credit rating agency ICRA today assigned LAA+ rating to the Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd's (KMBL) proposed Rs 75 crore Lower Tier II bonds programme.

The ratings indicate high-credit-quality and the rated instrument carries low credit risk.

The rating factors KMBL strong position in the commercial vehicle finance and improving franchise in the other retail asset segments such as personal loans and mortgage finance.

The rating also takes into account the improving financial performance and the ability of the bank to maintain its asset quality with negligible losses and delinquencies despite its greater focus on the non-salaried individual segment.

In addition, the rating derives comfort from the operational synergies with its subsidiaries in Kotak Mahindra Group operating in car financing (Kotak Mahindra Prime Ltd rated LAA), capital market (Kotak Securities Ltd rated LAA/A1+ and Kotak Mahindra Investments Ltd rated A1+) and investment banking businesses.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2006, KMBL reported net profit of Rs 104 crore on a total income of Rs 1,117 crore as compared with Rs 118 crore on a total income of Rs 937 crore respectively for the full financial year 2005-06.

UNI