Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made reviving the economy his government's top priority, but his spending promises have raised concerns that Japan's public debt burden, already the worst among major economies, could deteriorate further.
Fitch Ratings on Wednesday said India's high fiscal deficit would pose a challenge in lowering the debt to GDP ratio, which is expected to rise above 90 per cent in the next five years. It said India entered the pandemic with little fiscal headroom from a rating perspective. Its general government debt/GDP ratio stood at 72 per cent in 2019, against a median of 42 per cent for 'BBB' rated peers.
The share of foreign loans in total Adani group debt portfolio dropped to 61 per cent by September 2023 from 63 per cent as of March 2023, as the group repaid part of its foreign loans and refinanced part of older loans. The share of Indian lenders, on the other hand, rose to 39 per cent in the total debt pie in September 2023 from 37 per cent in March after a report by US-based short seller Hindenburg Research in January last year, which led to volatility in the share prices of group companies. The group's total debt remained static at Rs 2.26 trillion in the same period.
Investors' wealth eroded by Rs 3.46 lakh crore on Wednesday as equity markets took a sharp tumble amid weak global trends and foreign fund outflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 676.53 points or 1.02 per cent to settle at 65,782.78. During the day, it plunged 1,027.63 points or 1.54 per cent to 65,431.68. In line with the weak trend in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms eroded by Rs 3,46,947.54 crore to Rs 3,03,33,258.69 crore.
S&P has maintained a stable outlook on the basis of their expectation that over the next two years the growth will remain strong and India will maintain its sound net external position and fiscal deficit will remain elevated but broadly in line with their forecast.
India's sovereign rating could be cut if the government loosens fiscal policy in the run-up to elections, says Fitch.
Moody's Investors Service on Friday affirmed India's rating at the lowest investment grade of 'Baa3', with a stable outlook, saying high growth will support a gradual increase in income levels, but flagged risks of populist policies due to rise in political tensions. Moody's said although India's potential growth has come down in the past 7-10 years, the growth would outpace all other G20 economies through at least the next two years, driven by domestic demand. Moody's said the restoration of robust growth prospects post-pandemic, the effective commitment to inflation targeting and the rehabilitation of the financial system aided by reform supports its view of strengthening monetary and macro policy effectiveness.
The unexpected upward revision of the country's sovereign rating by Fitch today will strengthen the battered rupee which would also stem the fund outflow from the domestic market, Standard Chartered said.
The government allocated Rs 650 billion for petroleum subsidies in FY14, of which Rs 450 billion was used to pay oil marketing companies for the subsidy gap incurred in the previous financial year.
Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian said India's economy will witness a decline in the current fiscal, but the drop will be limited if there is an economic recovery in the October-March period.
Public sector banks require Rs 2.40-lakh crore.
Global rating agency Fitch on Friday pegged India's growth at 5.5 per cent in the current fiscal and 6 per cent in 2015-16 and affirmed the country's rating outlook at stable level.
The recent Indian telecom spectrum auction will hasten industry consolidation, strengthen tariffs and reduce regulatory risks.
Rating agency Fitch Ratings today said there is more pain in store for India's infrastructure projects, which are already reeling under delays and regulatory hurdles, due to sector specific stresses and macroeconomic challenges.
Report says stressed asset level to peak at 15% in 2014-15.
Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 3.23 per cent, followed by SBI, Yes Bank, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel.
Since Indian economy grew by 8.9 per cent in the first half, Fitch projections mean that it will expand by a slower growth rate in the second half.
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The rated oil and gas companies, Fitch said, have a significant proportion of foreign currency-denominated debt.
Rating agency Fitch on Tuesday upgraded India's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings
Fitch on Monday said the likely upturn in the country's investment climate and reduction in interest rates will improve the property market by the end of March 2016.
Global rating agency Fitch has revised upwards India's growth projection to 6 from 5 per cent for the current fiscal and said the recent election results should provide additional confidence and spur growth.
The Union Budget 2011-2012 is likely to be more beneficial for the special and underdeveloped states, including J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar, rating agency Fitch said on Wednesday.
Deloitte India on Friday said it estimates India's GDP growth at 6.6 per cent in the current fiscal helped by consumption expenditure, exports rebound and capital flows. In its India's economic outlook report, Deloitte said the rapid growth of the middle-income class has led to rising purchasing power and even created demand for premium luxury products and services. With the expectation that the number of middle-to-high-income segments will be one in two households by 2030/31, up from one in four currently, we believe this trend will likely become further amplified, driving overall private consumer expenditure growth, it said.
Although the Fitch revised the outlook on Long-term Local Currency Issuer Default Rating from stable to negative, it has retained the investment grade rating at BBB-, which indicates low credit risk. The downgrade by Fitch is one of the main reasons for all-round selling in the stock markets. Another global rating agency Standard and Poor's last week had said it might downgrade India's sovereign ratings, if the country's rising inflation and widening fiscal deficit.
There has been no change in Tata Steel's strategy on operations in the United Kingdom (UK), company chairman N Chandrasekaran has told shareholders. The statement comes amid growing concern about the restructuring plan in the face of change in government in the UK. Tata Steel's plan for the UK entailed a 1.25 billion investment plan agreed upon by the Conservative party-led government in September last year.
The rating agency has affirmed the company's National Long Term Rating at 'AAA' with a stable outlook.
India's sovereign credit ratings do not reflect the economy's fundamentals, the Economic Survey said on Friday and nudged the global agencies to become more transparent and less subjective in their ratings. The Economic Survey 2020-21, tabled in Parliament, said that sovereign credit ratings methodology must be amended to reflect economies' ability and willingness to pay their debt obligations, and suggested that developing economies must come together to address this bias and subjectivity inherent in sovereign credit ratings methodology. "Never in the history of sovereign credit ratings has the fifth largest economy in the world been rated as the lowest rung of the investment-grade (BBB-/Baa3). While sovereign credit ratings do not reflect the Indian economy's fundamentals, noisy, opaque and biased credit ratings damage FPI flows," the survey said.
India's economic growth has slowed to a three-year low of 5.3 per cent in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal.
India's populist pre-election Budget, unveiled on Friday, sparked concern at credit rating agency Fitch which said the plans confirmed the government was unwilling to grasp the need to cut spending.
Officials in the finance ministry are not happy with credit rating agency Fitch's revision of India's local currency outlook to negative from stable. Officials say Fitch's conclusion that the central government's fiscal deficit will rise to 4.5 per cent of gross domestic product in 2008-09, as against 2.8 per cent in the previous fiscal, is wrong.
Many CEOs said they plan to give special leave to women employees so as to encourage their participation in the workforce.
Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Co Ltd said Fitch Rating India Pvt Ltd affirmed F1 + (Ind) rating to its short-term debt program.
The government's Rs 20.97 lakh crore COVID-19 package lacks in addressing the immediate concerns of the economy as the actual fiscal impact of the additional stimulus is only about 1 per cent of the GDP as opposed to the claim of 10 per cent, Fitch Solutions said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12 announced a stimulus package of Rs 20 lakh crore, or nearly 10 per cent of GDP, to deal with the economic fallout of COVID-19. The contents of the package were broad-based and announced in five tranches.
Flush with surplus capital and liquidity, European banks are increasingly looking for potential acquisition targets in India among other emerging economies.
International rating agency Fitch Ratings has pegged India's economic growth at 8 per cent for this fiscal, up from an estimated 7.2 per cent in the 2009-10 period.
Upstream firms have a tremendous financial pressure due to selling crude at subsidised rates to oil marketing firms.
"The 2012 outlook for the Indian pharmaceutical industry is stable. The agency expects credit profiles to remain stable given that long-term earnings and profitability prospects remain intact with moderate capex," Fitch said in its report '2012 Outlook: Indian Pharmaceutical'.
Capital needs are likely to increase substantially each year.
On government's last week's announcement of revamping of PSU banks, Fitch Ratings said the move is "credit positive, but risks remain".
According to a report by rating agency Fitch, different sets of regulations imposed by different regulators may result in an uneven playing field.
