India is challenging ratings that influence sense of stability, says Jaishankar

Bengaluru: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said India has started challenging a lot of ratings and reports that influence the 'sense of stability in India'.

According to him, these exercises of bringing out ratings and reports are 'doing real harm' to the country.

Jaishankar also expressed his surprise over the 'complete coincidence' of the 'same set of people' allegedly bringing out ratings and reports on India and expressing their opinion on the country repeatedly and consistently.

“It’s very interesting in many cases, when you have these ratings. If somebody actually bothers to go through it, you will find the names of people who've been consulted and you'd be amazed how many reports are produced in the world about India, and how the same set of people are consulted -- complete coincidence. They just happen to express their opinion again and again consistently to different people,” he remarked.

The EAM was replying to a question by Aarin Capital chairman and former Infosys Chief Finance Officer T V Mohandas Pai on Hungarian-American billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist George Soros during an interaction which was organised by the BJP Media Cell and Economic Cell.

Pai alleged that Soros was spending money on the NGOs 'to disparage many countries to bring forward his ideology'.

Jaishankar said, “We have been pointing out that today, because it's not just a polemical point, because sometimes they actually do real harm to the country.” The minister said that in many cases, the ratings on India are taken into account a lot though it is allegedly brought out by non-financial and non-economic players.

“This assessment about India, the sense of stability in India, all these are actually influenced,” Jaishankar said.

Stating that India has started challenging a lot of it, he opined that there is a need to do it in a more systematic manner.

“In fact there are some people and I would really say more power to their elbow who want to bring out ratings of other countries. It’s a worthwhile exercise. It may seem a little bit flaky at the start but I think if we build it into a credible industry over a period of time, it will be good,” Jaishankar opined.