Next govt's policies to decide rating: S&P

Says in the absence of policy action, it could downgrade the sovereign rating

Standard and Poor's may upgrade India's outlook if the government that is elected next month addresses some of the country's fiscal and economic challenges through steps such as passing a goods and services tax.

"If in the future they implement policies that effectively addresses some of the credit weaknesses that I have highlighted, we could revise the outlook to stable again," said S&P senior director Kim Eng Tan in a webcast.

"In the absence of effective policy action, we could lower the ratings on the sovereign," he added.

S&P rates India at "BBB-minus" and is the only of the three major credit agencies to have a "negative" outlook.