Rating upgrade shows reforms paying off, says S&P's Yee Farn Phua

S&P upgrades India's sovereign rating citing strong growth, fiscal discipline, and infrastructure push, while warning against policy reversals and subsidy-heavy spending

After S&P upgraded India’s sovereign rating, Yee Farn Phua, director of sovereign and international public finance ratings for Asia at S&P Global Ratings, explained to Asit Ranjan Mishra over a Zoom call the rationale behind the rating action. Edited excerpts:

 

What has changed fundamentally since your last review of India that led to the sovereign rating upgrade?

 

As you know, we changed the outlook for India to positive last year, largely because we saw a demonstrated drive towards fiscal consolidation. We also believe that gross domestic product (GDP) growth is very healthy, which has supported fiscal metrics. We also took