SINGAPORE (Standard&Poor's) March 16, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that India's budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, would be mildly negative for the unsolicited sovereign credit rating on India (BBB-/Stable/A-3). While the finance minister announced various fiscal reforms, the timing of the implementation of key reform measures such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Direct Tax Codes (DTC), and the targeted direct subsidy disbursement remains uncertain. In addition, India's deficit in the next fiscal year is likely to remain high, and uncertainty surrounds the path to subsidy consolidation and to lowering fiscal vulnerability to volatile commodity prices. We believe India's nominal GDP growth will most probably exceed the ratio of general government
