Critical of rating agencies for giving India the lowest investment grade rating, eminent banker Deepak Parekh has wondered how a country with such “strong fundamentals” on both economic and political fronts can be rated so low. India continues to be rated ‘BBB-’, just a notch above the junk grade and lowest among investment grade ratings, by most of the global credit rating agencies despite the government pitching hard for an upgrade on the basis of several reforms initiated over the last few years. “Why is India, the fastest growing emerging economy for over one year now with all macroeconomic fundamentals being positive, rated just BBB-? “On the other hand, Italy and Spain, which are far weaker and smaller, are having much higher ratings than us,” Parekh said.
