Standard & Poor's sees India's ratings unchanged till next year

Standard & Poor's, the global ratings agency, does not expect an upgrade to India's sovereign debt rating in the next year in the absence of substantial, quality reforms, it said on Monday.

S&P said the quality of fiscal consolidation was not as good as it could have been on structural front, after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pushed back by a year, to 2017-18, the government's deadline for cutting the fiscal deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

India needs to at least strengthen two of its macroeconomic metrics on growth, inflation and fiscal health, said Kim Eng Tan, Senior Director, Asia-Pacific Sovereign Ratings for S&P.

"However, again, (a) very big improvement is unlikely to come through in next year or so... We don't see the rating going up in the next year or so," Tan said.

The US-based financial services major currently rates the country at its lowest investment grade rating of "BBB-minus", with a "Stable" outlook.

(Reuters)