Moody's India rating a step above junk, worst to come: Rahul

New Delhi, June 2
A day after global credit ratings agency Moody's Investors Services downgraded India's sovereign ratings as it sees challenges piled up on the country's policy making institutions to mitigate the risks of a sustained period of relatively low growth, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said the worst is yet to come as the government has not supported the poor and the MSME sector.

Former President of the Congress Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "Moody's has rated Modi's handling of India's economy a step above JUNK."

"Lack of support to the poor and the MSME sector means the worst is yet to come," added Rahul Gandhi.

Besides, Moody's said the Covid-19 pandemic amplifies vulnerabilities in India's credit profile such as slower growth relative to the country's potential, rising debt and further weakening of debt affordability and persistent stress in parts of the financial system.

Consequently, Moody's downgraded India's foreign-currency and local-currency long-term issuer ratings to Baa3 from Baa2.

It also downgraded India's local-currency senior unsecured rating to Baa3 from Baa2, and its short-term local-currency rating to P-3 from P-2.

Furthermore, it kept the outlook as negative. Currently, the sovereign rating assigned to India is Baa2 with a negative outlook.