COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

S&P's revises ratings of IDBI, ICICI and BoB

Standard & Poor's, the foreign rating agency, has revised the rating outlooks on Industrial Development Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Limited to negative from stable.

The long-term foreign currency counter-party credit rating on all three entities are affirmed at BB and the subordinated debt rating on ICICI Limited is affirmed at B-plus.

The B short-term foreign currency counter-party rating on all three entities was also affirmed. The B short-term counterparty rating on State Bank of India is also affirmed.

The outlook change reflects S&P's concerns that continued weakness in a number of key sectors of the Indian economy was having an adverse effect on the asset quality and profitability of India's financial intermediaries.

Asset quality within the Indian system continues to deteriorate, although balance sheet, growth has disguised non performing assets, which have increased in absolute terms.

The combination of these factors will moderate the financial flexibility of Indian banks and financial institutions at a time when they are seeking to comply with more stringent capital and provisioning requirements recently announced by the Reserve Bank of India, a statement added.

The negative outlook had an impact on the stock markets today as the BSE Sensex lost 42 points. UNI

Business news