Fitch warns on Indian economy, need for reform

India's sovereign rating could be cut if the government loosens fiscal policy in the run-up to elections due by 2014 or sees a prolonged slowdown in economic growth, ratings agency Fitch said on Monday.

Both Fitch and Standard and Poor's earlier this year cut their ratings outlooks for Asia's third-largest economy to negative, putting the country in danger of being the first of the BRICS grouping of fast-growing economies to be downgraded to junk status.

Fitch said weak GDP data on Friday confirmed the slowdown in the economy, and recent reform proposals by the government, while potentially supportive of growth, would need time to work and face political risks in their implementation.

"Policy slippage and/or mounting evidence of a structural decline in the trend growth rate, such as protracted relatively weak economic data, could cause the ratings to be downgraded," its report said.

The Indian economy extended its long slump in the September quarter, growing only 5.3 per cent, below the 5.5 per cent expansion seen in the three months to June, keeping it on track for its worst year in a decade.

The ratings agency expects economic recovery to be shallow with real GDP falling to 6 per cent in the current fiscal year from 6.5 per cent in the previous year before recovering to 7 per cent in the year that ends March 2014.

The agency, however, pointed out that the upbeat HSBC PMI reading earlier in the day suggests that growth may have troughed. India's manufacturing sector beat the expectations of economists to grow at its fastest pace in five months in November, boosted by strong export orders and a surge in output, a business survey showed on Monday.

"However, tight fiscal and monetary policy settings decrease the authorities' scope to support growth amid stubbornly high inflation and a commitment to consolidating public finances," the report said.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Govt aims to bring down CAD to 2.5% by 12th Plan-end, says Montek

Raghuram Rajan not in favour of sovereign bond to finance CAD

Hospitality sector attracts $3.2 bn FDI in Apr-Feb FY13

India for enhancing financial resources of ADB