Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has maintained a Baa3 foreign currency rating and Ba2 local currency sovereign rating, which is non-investment grade, on India.

“This is clearly a growth-oriented budget and contains a slightly larger than expected headline deficit number, but it is broadly consistent with near-term stability in the government’s debt trajectory,” Aninda Mitra, a senior analyst at Moody’s, said.

This is largely based on the estimated fiscal deficit, which is expected to balloon to 6.8 percent of GDP, its highest in 16 years. Continue reading →