NEW DELHI: When the finance ministry brass received Moody's draft ranking motion on Thursday night, it didn't come as a marvel to the government which has been pitching for an upgrade citing the raft of reforms undertaken by means of it since assuming power in May 2014.
Several key serving and previous policymakers said the upgrade should had been introduced three hundred and sixty five days in the past given the spate of reforms. "They always said they would like the reforms to take deep roots and the reforms are sustainable. From the department of economic affairs (DEA) we had written a letter pointing out what we considered as deficiencies in their rating methodology. They had of course replied," former financial affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das who had spearheaded the hassle advised TOI.
"But the fact that reforms are deep rooted and sustainable are also a matter of subjective assessment. Now, subjective assessments can vary but at the same time our point was that subjective assessments are based on objective facts. Therefore, we felt India deserved a credit rating upgrade much earlier. It has to be recognised that without this rating upgrade India was attracting a lot of investments. Now with this upgrade, together with improved ease of doing business, India emerges as a very attractive destination," said Das.
The 2016-17 financial survey had also puzzled the ranking technique of the agencies and used the ranking of China and India to indicate the flaws.
While it was declaring the gaps, North Block mandarins, reminiscent of Das and CEA Arvind Subramanian realized that making an attempt too laborious with the agencies won't paintings and as an alternative it is better to concentrate on the process handy. "We do what we do," Subramanian was overheard telling his colleagues in the finance ministry in the afternoon, in what was most certainly a take on Raghuram Rajan's latest ebook 'I do what I do'.
Former NITI Aayog vice president Arvind Panagariya pointed to improper technique that ranking agencies pursue. "Of course, our ratings continue to be well below what they ought to be. We have no record of ever defaulting and we are among the fastest growing large economies. But the ratings agencies seem to attach a huge negative weight to our low level of percapital income," he said.
"Nevertheless, while we must rejoice the rare event, we must also reaffirm our resolve to continue moving ahead with reforms to create the New India that the PM envisages by 2022," Panagariya said.
Economic affairs secretary Subhas Chandra Garg said the upgrade is a reputable stamp of approval of deep and comprehensive structural reforms undertaken by means of the government to position India on a sustainable top growth and institutional building trail.
N Okay Singh, a former civil servant and a member of the now-wound up Planning Commission, echoed the sentiment. "It is a very strong vindication going beyond recognition of the government's overall economic strategy. This is not the result of a single measure but a constellation of measures which includes continued fiscal consolidation, convergence of fiscal and monetary policies, and continuous fine tuning of GST."
Several key serving and previous policymakers said the upgrade should had been introduced three hundred and sixty five days in the past given the spate of reforms. "They always said they would like the reforms to take deep roots and the reforms are sustainable. From the department of economic affairs (DEA) we had written a letter pointing out what we considered as deficiencies in their rating methodology. They had of course replied," former financial affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das who had spearheaded the hassle advised TOI.
"But the fact that reforms are deep rooted and sustainable are also a matter of subjective assessment. Now, subjective assessments can vary but at the same time our point was that subjective assessments are based on objective facts. Therefore, we felt India deserved a credit rating upgrade much earlier. It has to be recognised that without this rating upgrade India was attracting a lot of investments. Now with this upgrade, together with improved ease of doing business, India emerges as a very attractive destination," said Das.
The 2016-17 financial survey had also puzzled the ranking technique of the agencies and used the ranking of China and India to indicate the flaws.
While it was declaring the gaps, North Block mandarins, reminiscent of Das and CEA Arvind Subramanian realized that making an attempt too laborious with the agencies won't paintings and as an alternative it is better to concentrate on the process handy. "We do what we do," Subramanian was overheard telling his colleagues in the finance ministry in the afternoon, in what was most certainly a take on Raghuram Rajan's latest ebook 'I do what I do'.
Former NITI Aayog vice president Arvind Panagariya pointed to improper technique that ranking agencies pursue. "Of course, our ratings continue to be well below what they ought to be. We have no record of ever defaulting and we are among the fastest growing large economies. But the ratings agencies seem to attach a huge negative weight to our low level of percapital income," he said.
"Nevertheless, while we must rejoice the rare event, we must also reaffirm our resolve to continue moving ahead with reforms to create the New India that the PM envisages by 2022," Panagariya said.
Economic affairs secretary Subhas Chandra Garg said the upgrade is a reputable stamp of approval of deep and comprehensive structural reforms undertaken by means of the government to position India on a sustainable top growth and institutional building trail.
N Okay Singh, a former civil servant and a member of the now-wound up Planning Commission, echoed the sentiment. "It is a very strong vindication going beyond recognition of the government's overall economic strategy. This is not the result of a single measure but a constellation of measures which includes continued fiscal consolidation, convergence of fiscal and monetary policies, and continuous fine tuning of GST."
Riding on reforms, government cracked the code
![Riding on reforms, government cracked the code]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
November 18, 2017
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