Rating agencies Crisil and ICRA have downgraded the rating of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation's (DHFL) Rs 850 crore commercial paper to “D” from "A4+" and "A4" respectively.

A press release by Crisil stated that "the downgrading reflects delays in debt servicing by DHFL on some of its non-convertible debentures (NCDs) - not rated by CRISIL - because of inadequate liquidity.

"The Mumbai-based DHFL has Rs 850 crore of outstanding CPs, of which, Rs 750 crore is due in June 2019."With liquidity inadequate as on date to service debt and visibility very low on timely fundraising, we expect the CP to be in default on maturity," said Crisil.

"The rating revision factors in further deterioration in the company’s liquidity profile and delays in meeting scheduled debt obligation on June 04, 2019," said ICRA in a statement.Care Ratings also downgraded its Rs 17,655 crore non-convertible debentures from 'BBB-' to 'D'.

"The rating revision takes into account the recent instance of delay in servicing of obligations with respect to some of the non-convertible debentures by Dewan Housing Finance Limited (DHFL) due to prolonged liquidity stress," it said.

The development comes at a time when various reports have indicated that DHFL was in talks with financiers after it missed the deadline on interest payments on some outstanding loans.

(With IANS inputs)

First Published:Jun 5, 2019 6:02 PM IST