S&P flags growth risk that may lead to India debt downgrade

Mumbai: S&P Global Ratings warned it may cut India’s sovereign ratings if economic growth doesn’t recover, pulling down the nation’s bonds that are already the worst performers among Asian peers this month.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose 5 basis points to 6.76%. The rating company said it expects the nation’s economy to gradually recover over the next few years with correspondingly higher growth.

“If this recovery does not materialize, and it becomes clear that India’s structural growth has significantly deteriorated, we could lower the rating,” Andrew Wood, a Singapore-based analyst at S&P, said in the statement. Any downgrade would take India into the so-called junk-grade status.

Economic growth is at the lowest since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power for the first time in 2014. The economy expanded 4.5% in July-September, slowing for a sixth straight quarter as fall in local consumption, troubled banks and a weak global outlook took their toll.

S&P rates India at BBB-, which is the lowest investment-grade rating. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded India’s outlook to negative from stable in November though it rates the country a notch higher than S&P.