Global rating agency Standard & Poor’s, despite government’s various measures of putting back the economy on track, has expressed concern over slowdown in the pace of reforms and said that India’s rating could come under stress if the Government fails to pursue reforms agenda and overshoots fiscal deficit target.
The global credit rating agency which would formally review India’s ratings in November 2016, has ruled out a rating upgrade for the country in the next 12-18 months but said that in case the Government is able to get the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill passed in the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament, it would be a credit positive and its passage would indicate that government's reform initiative is picking pace with a strong momentum
It said that GST will bring in a simple tax regime and a business friendly environment. Passage of GST bill will be credit positive for India. It would indicate that the Government’s reform initiative is picking up pace with a strong momentum. The agency will keep a close watch on the upcoming Budget to see how the government plans to maintain the deficit target and go ahead with the reforms. It added that reforms like land acquisition bill and GST have been stuck due to political logjam in Parliament.
S&P further said that it could consider a rating upgrade if fiscal deficit is brought down, debt to GDP ratio is below 60 percent and savings are properly channelized, but also cautioned that ratings could come under stress if it see that government is backing away from reform commitment and fiscal deficit is not in control. As per the revised roadmap, fiscal deficit is to be brought down to 3.9 percent of GDP in 2015-16, 3.5 percent in 2016-17 and 3 percent by 2017-18. The deficit in 2014-15 was 4 percent of GDP.
