CRISIL leading Rating Company expects higher interest rates

CRISIL leading Rating Company expects higher interest rates and commodity prices to slow down investment-driven demand in the country, with rising rates moderating retail demand, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Indian companies' credit quality is peaking and profitability of players in the cement, chemicals, construction, automobile and textile spinning industries may be affected by high input prices, CRISIL said that the External factors, such as surging oil prices due to unrest in West Asia and North Africa and interruption in trade and investments, can have a "large impact on corporate credit quality.CRISIL has modified credit ratio (MCR), an indicator of the relative frequency of upgrades and downgrades, rose for the second year, after plummeting to a decade low in FY09.

However, an improvement in the MCR is likely to be limited, going forward, on higher pressure on profitability and intensifying competition, it said.Increased profitability pressures are expected to continue over the medium-term, it said