Fitch downgrades Indian Bank�s outlook to negative

MUMBAI, June 4: Credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings has revised public sector lender Indian Bank�s (IB) outlook to Negative from Stable, while affirming its Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (LT FCIDR) at BBB- . Fitch has also affirmed IB s Viability Rating (VR) atBbb- , Short-term IDR at F3 , Support Rating at 3 , and SupportRating Floor at BB+ .Indian Bank National Long-Term rating has been affirmed atFitch AA+(ind) with a stable outlook and national short-Term rating at Fitch A1+(ind) . A full list of rating actions is provided at the end of this commentary, a statement said.The outlook revision on the LT FCIDR reflects increasing asset quality pressures on IB compared with other Indian banks ratedBBB- , on account of both cyclical and structural factors. However, the risk is somewhat mitigated by the bank s reasonable standalone financials including robust core capitalisation,falling-though-above average profitability, and stable funding and liquidity profile, which explains the stable outlook on the NationalLong-Term rating that is one notch below the highest level. The support rating and Sspport rating Ffoor reflect IB s regional (65 branches in South India) as well as moderate albeit growing franchise (over 1,955 branches), the statement added. (UNI)