Salman Khurshid plays down S andP rating

New Delhi, Apr 25 (ANI): Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday played down the global agency Standard and Poor's (S andP) rating for India, saying he was confident that the country would get out from the economic slowdown crisis and the economic conditions would significantly improve.

"We have been through difficult times. We have, I think we have weathered the storm, can't say that the whole world has yet weathered the storm but I think we have weathered the storm and I think that's now becoming apparent in decisions that are being taken by the Reserve Bank and the decisions that are being taken by the Finance Ministry," said Khurshid.

"Let us just pray and hope that we get a very good monsoon once again and that after the monsoon with some certainty and some confidence that the worst as far as the economic crisis is concerned which was brought upon us because of the conditions in the world will be over," he added.

Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said that he was not surprised by S andP ratings, as the Central Government had failed to curb price rise and did not generate employment opportunities for the common masses.

"I am not surprised that the estimations about India's growth is further declining because we have been arguing not now but for the last three to four years since the global recession began that India can sustain its high growth only on basis of increasing domestic demand, only be empowering our own people," said Yechury.

"By increasing the domestic demand, we will have a healthy sustainable growth cycle but the government is dong exact opposite. They are creating avenues for greater profit for certain people but for the masses of Indians their purchasing powers are continuously being eroded by this price rise and by lack of employment opportunities," he added.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh said the fiscal and current account deficit is a matter of concern.

" Inflation especially food inflation is another matter of grave concern. Apart from that we are not able to have economic development, as we are not receiving any money from foreign countries. So, the economic index of the country is not very encouraging," he said.

Global agency Standard and Poor's (S andP) today lowered India's rating outlook to negative and warned of a downgrade in two years if there is no improvement in the fiscal situation and the political climate continues to worsen. (ANI)