Moody’s Says Indian Debt Level ‘Constraint’ on Sovereign Rating

India’s public debt at 70 percent of its gross domestic product is preventing Asia’s third-biggest economy from securing an investment-grade rating, Moody’s Investors Service said.

The nation’s fiscal deficit and “the debt burden, which is high relative to similarly rated countries,” are among the constraints, Atsi Sheth, a sovereign analyst at Moody’s, said in a telephone interview from Mumbai yesterday. “For the ratings to be improved, we will have to be comfortable that India’s government debt is at a level that can be sustained over the medium term.”