Beyond foreign ratings

Strangely, what is 'bribe' in India is accounted legally as 'promotional expenses' in other countries and the corruption tag gets removed as the expenses become 'legal'

With reference to “Rating the raters” (Weekend Ruminations, November 18), T N Ninan has given a brief but excellent summing up and analysis of the challenges external rating agencies pose, encapsulating many fallacies in the rating exercise usually ignored by the media and analysts while celebrating an upgrade or lamenting an unusual downgrade.

One enjoyed reading the comment on “definition of corruption”. Strangely, what is “bribe” in India is accounted legally as “promotional expenses” or “discounts allowed” in other countries and the corruption tag gets removed as the expenses become “legal”. This applies to several parameters applied by rating agencies which