­Duncans Tea Limited (DTL), part of the Duncans Group, was incorporated in 1979. A Kolkata based company, Duncans Tea Limited is engaged in blending, packaging and marketing of tea through its distribution network spread across India. The company is one of the oldest players in the packaged tea market. The overall operations are managed by the directors Mr. Shrivardhan Goenka, Mr. Shrish Tapuriah, Mr. Maneyapanda Chinnappa Appaiah and Mr. Sudipta Kumar Mitra.

­Acuité has been requesting for data, information and undertakings from the rated entity for conducting surveillance & review of the rating. However, the issuer/borrower failed to submit such information before the due date.

Acuité believes that information risk is a critical component in such ratings, and noncooperation by the issuer along with unwillingness to provide information could be a sign of potential deterioration in its overall credit quality.

This rating is, therefore, being flagged as “Issuer not-cooperating”, in line with prevailing SEBI regulations and Acuité’s policies.

­The rating is based on information available from sources other than the issuer/borrower (in the absence of information provided by the issuer/borrower). Acuité endeavored to gather information about the entity/industry from the public domain. Therefore, Acuité cautions lenders and investors regarding the use of such information, on which the indicative credit rating is based.

­"No information provided by the issuer / available for Acuite to comment upon."

­Not Applicable

­"No information provided by the issuer / available for Acuite to comment upon."

­Not Applicable

­Not Applicable

­None

­Acuité is yet to receive the latest No Default Statement (NDS) from the rated entity, despite repeated requests and follow-ups.

­In order to inform the investors about complexity of instruments, Acuité has categorized such instruments in three levels: Simple, Complex and Highly Complex. Acuite’ s categorisation of the instruments across the three categories is based on factors like variability of the returns to the investors, uncertainty in cash flow patterns, number of counterparties and general understanding of the instrument by the market. It has to be understood that complexity is different from credit risk and even an instrument categorized as 'Simple' can carry high levels of risk. For more details, please refer Rating Criteria “Complexity Level Of Financial Instruments” on www.acuite.in.