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Downgrade unwarranted: Chambers

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Aug. 9

THE apex chambers of commerce and industry on Thursday held that Moody's decision to downgrade India's foreign currency rating was not warranted and that the rating agency had not factored in some of the positive aspects of the economy before arriving at a decision.

``We do believe that they (both S&P and Moody's) have not taken the entire picture into consideration. They have not taken into account some of the positive aspects of the economy. I hope there will soon be a correction of the downgrade'', Mr Sanjiv Goen ka, President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) told newspersons here.

Reacting to the downgrade, the President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Mr Chirayu Amin , told newspersons that the downgrade of foreign currency rating will affect the industry. ``The assessment by the rating agen cies have been more cosmetic than fundamental. However, we should grab this opportunity to relaunch the reforms programme and create a new image for India as a leading emerging investment destination'', a FICCI statement said.

The President of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Mr Raghu Mody , said that ``I don't think this was necessary as the fundamentals of the economy are strong''.

He felt that recent ``financial earthquake'' (US-64 and UTI's bad investment decisions) is not a good reason for the downgrade. Mr Mody said that the rating agency's downgrade has given ``India an opportunity to put our house in order and bring the econo my back on the rails''.