Corporate Fiascos and the Role of Credit Rating Agencies

Abstract

We are passing through a time when India has just witnessed perhaps the worst ever corporate scam on her own soil. Satyam fiasco came to light at a time when the entire globe is battling hard to rid itself of the hang-ups of sub-prime crisis. Market watchdogs failed in tracking the corporate malpractices. So did credit rating agencies (CRAs). CRAs have widely been criticised for their perceived role in the corporate scandals. Regulatory incorporation of ratings has led the CRAs to an uncontested supremacy. On the face of declining informational value, the formidable position of credit rating agencies poses a paradox. The present paper attempts to explore the role of CRAs in select corporate scams and also to trace out the probable issues that play behind rating agency inactions.