Letters: A sub-standard analysis

Apropos the report, "Rein in party members to retain credibility, Moody's tells Modi" (October 31), not only foreign governments but ratings agencies also have the gumption to advise India on its internal matters! So Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credibility is on the wane? Does the credibility of the US suffer when a white policeman shoots an African-American? Or, when a non-resident Indian is manhandled by the police and permanently disabled?

What is the credibility and moral authority of these rating agencies? Rewind to 2008 when we witnessed the biggest market crisis since the 1930s. Keeping 'both arms on the deal' was the key reason for the crisis. All the structured derivatives and other so-called sophisticated products that brought down not only 150-year-old institutions but countries too were concocted by one department, praised by another department and sold by an arm of the same investment banking outfit.

The less said about the 'independence' of rating agencies, the better. Created from sub-prime loan books, these derivatives and products were 'adulterated' by analysts, who sang their praises, and auditors, who kept their eyes closed. The biggest 'adulterers' were the rating agencies. Such an agency is telling India what it should do? I find that agency's analysis sub-standard and poor.

T R Ramaswami, Mumbai

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