Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed confidence that there will be a turnaround in country’s growth prospects in the coming months.

Mr Mukherjee rejected ratings agency Standard and Poor's claim that India could be the first BRIC economy to lose investment-grade rating.

In a statement issued in New Delhi yesterday, Mr Mukherjee said that the government is fully seized of the current situation and the warning from rating agency is not based on a fresh rating action. He said, S&P had issued India's sovereign credit rating on April 25 reaffirming the country's long term sovereign credit rating at BBB(-). It had, however revised India's outlook to negative from stable.

The Minister said, between April 2012 and now, there are no significant events to indicate that the economy’s vulnerability to shocks has increased, though growth numbers for the fourth quarter 2011-12 have come below the expectations.

Mr Mukherjee said that S&P's recent report suggest that the main factor that would determine investment grade credit rating is the government's reaction to potentially slower growth and greater vulnerability to economic shocks.