Credit Rating Analysts at SEBI-registered Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) — CRISIL (S&P subsidiary), ICRA (Moody's affiliate), CARE Ratings, India Ratings (Fitch subsidiary), Acuité, and Infomerics — assign and surveil credit ratings on corporate bonds, commercial paper, bank loans, structured-finance instruments, municipal bodies, and State Development Loans. Unlike bank credit analysts who approve individual loans, rating analysts produce published, publicly-available ratings that affect how issuers raise capital from the bond market and how mutual funds, insurance companies, and provident funds are permitted to invest. The core output is a Rating Committee memorandum — a sector-contextualised analysis of a company's business risk profile, financial risk profile, and management quality — which goes before a Rating Committee that votes on the final rating symbol (AAA through D). Post-rating, analysts conduct quarterly surveillance, flag rating watches, and upgrade or downgrade ratings based on issuer developments. In India, ratings are mandatory for all Non-Convertible Debenture issuances above ₹5 crore (SEBI Circular), bank loan ratings above ₹1 crore (RBI mandate), and most commercial paper programmes. Senior analysts at CRISIL/ICRA become sector leads, Rating Committee members, or move into fixed-income research, PE credit, or structured-finance origination.