The Credit Rating and Information Services of India Ltd. (CRISIL) has revised ratings for eight state-run banks.

The names include Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, Dena Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, UCO Bank and Union Bank of India for which the agency has upgraded bond rating.

The rating outlook on Canara Bank, Corporation Bank and IDBI Bank has been also revised.

The move comes in response to the government' plans for capital infusion plan in PSBs, as also stated by the agency in a statement - "These rating actions were based on Crisil's reassessment of the support PSBs were likely to receive from their majority shareholder, the government of India (GoI), in the wake of GoI's recent steps and pronouncements."

The revision in ratings has also gained confidence from past moves and indications from the government, as the agency revealed - "The government has, additionally, reiterated that it would take appropriate measures to maintain capitalisation in PSBs around 12 per cent, so that these banks could grow and remained competitive. In 2008-09, GoI infused Rs 1,650 crore into three PSBs; it was committed to infusing Rs 2,150 crore more by September-end."

The agency has revised ratings on the lower Tier-II bonds to AAA and AA from the earlier AAA and AA-. Besides, the ratings on hybrid instruments has been revised upwards.

The agency had lowered the outlooks on basis of standalone performance in June last year.

The improved ratings will help the banks in lowering the cost of fund raised, with better bond rates and reduced interest burden.

Raman Uberoi, senior director, CRISIL Ratings, confirmed, "These measures represent a stronger and more specific articulation of GoI's intent than in the past. This articulation is a key factor in Crisil's reassessment of the expected support... We now see evidence of an enhanced degree of GoI support to the banks, following the pronouncements in the Budget."

Incorporated in 1987, CRISIL is India's leading rating agency. The company offers domestic and international customers various services, which include credit rating; research and policy advisory company. In 1998-99, the company launched the Risk Assessment Model (RAM).

CRISIL MarketWire is real-time financial news service of the company. Some of the other products and services include the Mutual Fund Composite Performance Rankings (CRISIL CPRs), fund risk analytics model, CRISIL mutual funds portfolio tracker and CRISIL complexity levels services.

India Index Services & Products Ltd. (IISL) is a joint venture between CRISIL and National Stock Exchange for stock indexing activities.