Fitch revises outlook of 7 PSUs to stable from negative

NEW DELHI: Global rating agency Fitch today revised its outlook on Issuer Default Ratings of seven state-owned firms, including GAIL, IOC and NTPC, to stable from negative.

Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlooks on the Long-Term (LT) Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) of seven Indian state-owned enterprises (SOEs) -- GAIL, IOC, BPCL, PGCIL, NTPC, NHPC and SAIL -- " to Stable from Negative and affirmed the ratings".

The outlook change follows Fitch's revision of the outlook on India's long term foreign and local currency IDRs to stable from negative.

"This is because the IDRs of these seven SOEs are either aligned with the sovereign's or their stand-alone credit profiles are currently at, or constrained by, the sovereign's IDRs as per Fitch's Parent and Subsidiary Rating Linkage (PSL) methodology," it said.

Referring to key rating drivers, Fitch said the ratings of IOC and BPCL are equalised with those of the sovereign; their standalone profiles are weaker than their 'BBB-' ratings.

The stand-alone ratings PGCIL, NTPC, NHPC, GAIL India and SAIL are currently assessed at or higher than India's IDR of 'BBB-'; hence their IDRs are at or constrained by the sovereign's ratings.