The number of corporate bankruptcies in fiscal 2003 fell 16.6 percent from the previous year to 15,790, down for the second straight year, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Wednesday.

The combined debt left by the failed companies dropped 19.7 percent in the year to March 31 to 10.69 trillion yen, falling for the third straight year, the credit-research company said in a report covering bankruptcies involving liabilities of 10 million yen or more.

The number of firms going bust decreased every month from the year-before level throughout the year, as companies became more conservative in management, cutting back on investments while trying to strengthen their balance sheets, Teikoku Databank said.

But many small and midsize companies, laden with slumping revenues and excessive debts, continue to face a high bankruptcy risk, the credit research firm said.

In the past fiscal year, there were many large-scale bankruptcies of golf course operators, but no "super-size" bankruptcies, or those involving liabilities exceeding 500 billion yen.

By industry, declines in the construction industry stood out with a 17 percent fall. The Kanto region centering on Tokyo showed a significant fall, of 15 percent.

Of the fiscal 2003 total, 12,062 companies, or 76.4 percent, collapsed due to recession-linked factors, including poor sales and inflated bad loans.

Failures of companies that had been in business for 30 years or longer numbered 4,163, accounting for 26.4 percent of the total. The percentage is the second-highest on record.

In March alone, the number of bankruptcies came to 1,343, down 14.3 percent from a year earlier for the 15th straight monthly fall.

But the total debt amount increased 10.7 percent from the year before to 1.31 trillion yen.