Officials from the Finance Ministry will meet credit rating agency Moody's Investors Services on June 16, reported Reuters. As per the report, the officials are expected to push for a sovereign rating upgrade. Currently, Moody's has given India the lowest investment grade of "Baa3" with a stable outlook.
Sovereign rating is an independent assessment of the creditworthiness of a country or sovereign entity that can give investors insights into the level of risk associated with investing in the debt of a particular country, including any political risk.
As per Economic Times, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran will lead the Finance Ministry officials in the meet with senior executives of Moody's. Nageswaran has told Economic Times, that the panel will cite India's robust growth outlook, moderating inflationary pressure, and other strong macroeconomic gauges for the 'Well-deserved upgrade".
Meanwhile, Moody's has predicted a 6% to 6.3% growth in the June quarter, against RBI's projection of 8% for the same quarter. In an interview with news agency PTI, Moody's Investors Service Associate Managing Director Gene Fang has said that India has a relatively high level of general government debt at around 81.8% of GDP for 2022-23, and low debt affordability.
Earlier, this year the government met with two other global rating firms Fitch and S&P with similar intentions. However, both the agencies maintained ratings for India at the "BBB-" level with a stable outlook in their May reviews.