Moody upgrade India rating; Red attack Tom Moody FB

At Kolkata, Openers KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan capitalised on vastly improved batting conditions, to lead India's recovery on the fourth day in Kolkata; Dhawan missed a century.  Earlier,  Rangana Herath's third Test fifty too the lead to 122.. .. remember that Reliance World Cup match in Oct 1987  at Chepauk between India and Australia, 2 players debuted – one who was earlier dubbed as strokeless wonder hit 5 sixers – Navjot Sidhu and shared a partnership with Srikkanth who too made a 70. For Australia Tom Moody debuted and did little of note.  He went on to play 8 tests and 76 one dayers.  The man in news,  Thomas Masson Moody coached Sri Lanka, IPL team  Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rangpur Riders, Multan Sultans and applied for the head coach position in Indian team too. 

At 202 for 2 – 70 to be scored  with about 15 overs to go, India looked set to start their defence of the title with a win ~ but Aussies under Alan Border had different plans.  Steve Waugh started the final over with 8 to be scored, Manoj Prabhakar ran himself out and it boiled to 2 off the last with Maninder, the hero of that tied test on strike.  Steve Waugh cleaned Maninder and the big Moody ran towards Steve celebrating.

The good news for India is : Moody’s Investors Service has raised India’s sovereign rating for the first time since 2004, overlooking a haze of short-term economic uncertainties to bet on the nation’s prospects from a raft of policy changes by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  Rupee, bonds and stocks rallied after the ratings firm upgraded India to Baa2 from Baa3 and said reforms being pushed through by Modi’s government will help stabilize rising levels of debt. That’s a one-level shift from the lowest investment-grade ranking and puts India in line with the Philippines and Italy. While government officials hailed the move as long overdue, some investors termed it a surprise given that India recently surrendered its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy amid sweeping policy change. The upgrade is a major win  for the ruling party.  The upgrade "reflects willingness of Moody’s to look beyond the transitory disruptive effects of difficult reforms," said a  senior economist.

Sri Narendra Modiji is a game changer and is always on positive news and here is he seen with the  Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Mr. Jean-Yves Le Drian in New Delhi on November 17, 2017.  The Govt naturally is celebrating the upgrade of India’s sovereign credit rating by Moody’s Investors Service. The new rating places India at Baa2, up a notch from Baa3. The outlook has also been raised from positive to stable, while other ratings including the one for short-term local currency have seen an upgrade by a notch each. India’s last upgrade by Moody’s was 13 years ago in 2004. According to the IMF, India’s economy is expected to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2018, up from an estimated 6.7 per cent in 2017. The timely and smooth implementation of landmark reforms such as the GST and IBC as well as decisive action to resolve the non-performing asset (NPA) challenge in public sector banks are crucial for India to realise its potential real GDP growth of 8-10 per cent.  The IMF projects India to overtake Germany in 2022 as the world’s fourth-largest economy,  displacing the UK from the top five.

Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides international financial research on bonds issued by commercial and government entities. Moody's, along with Standard & Poor's and Fitch Group, is considered one of the Big Three credit rating agencies. The company ranks the creditworthiness of borrowers using a standardized ratings scale which measures expected investor loss in the event of default.  Moody's was founded by John Moody in 1909 to produce manuals of statistics related to stocks and bonds and bond ratings. In 1975, the company was identified as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Often touted as the most literate State, Kerala Red showed their ugly face again.  When Moody’s Investors Service, the international rating agency, on Friday upgraded India’s sovereign rating after 13 long years from Baa3 to Baa2, it triggered  a war of words on former Australian cricketer Tom Moody’s Facebook page. After all, what could possibly be the connection between Moodys and Tom Moody except…..the name?  And yes, that’s exactly what triggered an online war of words, which is still continuing.  

Immediately after news broke out regarding the improved credit rating Moody's has accorded to India, hard-core CPM activists hell bent on promoting the party ideology  started showering criticism against the cricketer on his Facebook page wall. The comrades, most of them in their prime youth bluntly told Tom Moody that he should be ashamed of himself for giving an improved rating to the Indian economy under the Modi government. Some of them even dared Moody to visit Kerala. While one Comrade said Moody would fail in his mission as even Israel's secret agency Mosad could not inflict even a minor injury to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. However, there were some other comments which tried to expose the communists, but such seemingly mild criticism failed to deter the comrades from understanding their blunder attack against Tom Moody.

According to one comment, Moody gave such positive report after taking commission from Modi. Some Malayali Facebook users who understood the drama were also seen tendering apology to Tom Moody for the bizarre criticism against him. Apparently, it was only on October 4 that Moody had his last post, saying thanks for all those wished him birthday wishes.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

19^th Nov. 2017.