India's devastating COVID-19 crisis is making investors question more than ever whether after years of debt accumulation and patchy progress on reforms, a country touted as a future economic superpower still deserves its "investment grade" status.
A spate of downgrades last year had already left India's investment grade credit ratings hanging by a thread and the severity of the current virus wave is making the main agencies, S&P, Moody's and Fitch agitated again.
All three firms have either cut — or warned they could cut — the country's growth forecasts in recent weeks and that government debt as a share of GDP will jump to a record 90% this year.