Bias on safety.

"CareEdge has assigned a long-term foreign currency rating of BBB+ to India, two notches higher than what's provided by other global rating agencies," wrote Rajani Sinha. S&P assigned a rating of BBB- with a positive outlook while Moody's rates India at Baa3 with a stable outlook. Trading Economics. Fitch retained its BBB- rating on 29 August with a stable outlook. BT. All the agencies rate India at the lowest investment grade, just above junk. India is a large economy with a GDP at current prices (nominal) at $3.55 trillion in 2023 (World Bank) and is expected to grow at 7% in the fiscal year 2025 and at 6.5% in FY26, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The RBI projects a growth rate of 7.2% in FY25. BT. "Investment as a proportion of GDP" "is relatively high at about 33%, compared with 20-29% for similarly-rated peers." However, per capita income is low at $7,600 on the basis of purchasing power parity (PPP) compared to $18,218 for Thailand, $12,945 for Indonesia and $9,274 for the Philippines. Government debt of the Centre and states is high at 80% of GDP which means that interest on debt gobbles up 25% of revenue. India's foreign exchange reserves are high at number four in the world. wikipedia. Although, "India's foreign exchange reserves saw a decline for the third consecutive week, dipping by $2.16 billion to $688.26 billion as of 18 October, according to the RBI." ET. Government officials and politicians are unhappy with foreign rating agencies. "There are serious issues with the biased methodologies used by global rating agencies. One major issue is that around 20% of the weightage in the sovereign rating is driven by subjective indicators of governance, political stability and so on," said Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. Forbes. These concerns may be trivial for our rulers but they govern how citizens look at future prospects and their spending habits. "India's economic pulse has slowed just as the festive season approaches." "Manufacturing has dropped, GST collections have lost steam and domestic car sales continue to skid." India Today. The Reserve Bank of India's consumer confidence survey in September 2024 showed "Current Situation Index (CSI) improved by 0.8 points to 94.7 though it remained below the threshold level of 100." "Household's median perception of current inflation index declined by 10 basis points (bps) to 8.1%." The Hindu. Inflation expectations for 3 months ahead has reduced 20 bps, from 9.4% to 9.2%, and for 1 year ahead has fallen 10 bps, from 10.1% to 10%." IIFL Securities. The household perception of current inflation was 8.1% during the RBI survey in August when the actual consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate was 3.65%. It rose to 5.49%, the highest since December 2023. Mint. The RBI projected the average inflation rate at 4.5% for fiscal 2024-25.ET. India's gold imports tripled to 140 tons in August as the government lowered the customs duty to 6% from 15%. Gold imports in 2024 could range between 750 and 850 tons, said Sachin Jain, regional CEO for India at the World Gold Council. Gold is seen as an excellent hedge against inflation and negative real interest rates. Loyalty and patriotism may earn brownie points  (dictionary.com) with our rulers for CareEdge, but if Indians are investing in gold, why should foreigners invest in India? Foreign agencies ensure they get their money back. Like we do.