India Rejects S&P's Warning of Downgrading Its Credit Rating

NEW DELHI (NNN-PTI) -- India has rejected the Standard and Poor's warning of downgrading its credit rating, saying the country remains a robust and a growing economy and this status cannot be taken away.

 

"They (S&P) have their own prism. But we remain a robust and a growing economy. That cannot be taken away," said a senior official ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's participation in the G-20 Summit in Mexico.

 

"The S&P does not determine what we at BRICS think about each other," the official said.

 

The global rating agency in its recent report said that India could be the first BRIC nation to falter and fall below investment grade in the ratings.

 

Besides India, the other members of the five-nation bloc that have been the new growth poles of the global economy are Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.

 

It is highly unlikely for the G-20 to point out that the Indian economic growth is losing steam and that it should take necessary measures to restore the economy on the growth path, the sources said.

 

The rating agency, which had lowered India's rating outlook to 'negative' from 'stable' in April, said the Congress party is divided on economic policies and there is substantial opposition within the party to any serious liberalisation of the economy.

 

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had dismissed the S&P's contention and expressed confidence that there will be a turnaround in the country's growth prospects in the coming months.

 

"This (S&P report) is not based on a fresh rating action ... Between April 2012 and now there are no significant events to indicate that the economy's vulnerability to shocks has increased, though the growth numbers for the fourth quarter 2011-12 have come below the expectations," he had said. -- NNN-PTI