Moily hits out at rating firms for lowering India's outlook

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Hitting out at global rating firms for downgrading India's credit outlook, Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily on Wednesday said there was no 'economic tsunami' in the country and they should redesign their assessment parameters.

"Just because last two quarters have not been that good, doesn't mean there is an economic tsunami. There is no economic crisis in the country...Credit rating agencies will need to redesign some of their parameters and confine to economic parameters when rating countries," Moily said on the sidelines of a function organised by industry body Assocham.

"Agencies have been using political parameters too when they should stick to economic parameters only," he added.

Moily's comment comes against the backdrop of Standard & Poor's as well as Fitch downgrading India's credit outlook to negative, citing corruption and lack of reforms.

In a strong statement earlier, former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the government is fully seized of the situation and expressed confidence that there will be a turnaround in growth prospects in the coming months.

India, one of the fastest growing economies, is faced with slow growth and falling rupee. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate fell to 6.5 per cent in 2011-12 from 8.4 per cent in past two fiscals.

However, another rating agency Moody's had retained the country's credit rating outlook at stable, emphasising that slowdown is unlikely to be a permanent feature of the Indian economy.