September 2, 2003	Tuesday	Rajab 4, 1424

NEW DELHI, Sept 1: International rating agency Standard and Poor’s said on Monday that it had changed its outlook for India’s banking industry from “negative” to “stable” but said there were still industry risks.

“Key watershed structural reforms in India so far have improved the health of the banking sector’s asset quality, profitability, and capital adequacy,” Standard and Poor’s said in a statement from Singapore.

It identified some of the major reforms as new laws that would help the bank to reduce their bad debts including their recovery as well as improved information technology to improve transparency.

“The industry still faces a number of key challenges,” said Adrian Chee, credit analyst at Standard and Poor’s, adding that these were mainly on the need for more capital to meet higher credit demand.—AFP