Fitch has downgraded rating for Bharti Airtel and Adani Transmission
Ratings agency Fitch on Monday revised its outlooks on Bharti Airtel and Adani Transmission's long-term foreign currency issuer rating to 'negative'. Earlier, the rating for both the companies was 'stable'. In its report, Fitch attributed both the downgrades to revision of its outlook India's sovereign rating. Last week, Fitch had revised India's outlook from 'stable' to 'negative'. In the cases of both Bharti Airtel and Adani Transmission, Fitch has affirmed their issuer default rating (IDR) at 'BBB-', the same as that of India.
As for Bharti Airtel, Fitch, in its report said that it expects the company's revenue and earnings to remain "robust at around 10%-15%" in the current financial year, despite taking a hit due to the coronavirus pandemic. "However, the growth will be slower than our previous expectations of 20%-22%, due to lower data growth and weaker economic activity amid the pandemic in India and Africa," the report added.
For the power company Adani Transmission, Fitch's report said that the lack of demand due to the coronavirus lockdown will not affect the company's revenues.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Fitch had similarly revised its outlook on State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and six other lenders to "negative" from "stable".
