"Our long-term foreign currency debt rating for India remains at BB+ with a stable outlook," said DCR chief economist and head of sovereign research Dan Bond.

"Our rating won't move in response to incidents. Only major long-term structural changes in the Indian government's policy orientation will concern us," he told Reuters in an interview.

Bond is in Colombo to participate in a seminar on competitiveness.Re-election of prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist-led coalition has fuelled hopes for more stable politics and faster reforms in India.

Bond said DCR was encouraged by the steady progress India had made over the past decade in freeing its markets.

"We expect steady progress to continue," he said.

However India's banks needed close scrutiny in the wake of consolidations in the sector globally, he said.

Bond also said DCR was holding back on issuing a sovereign rating for Pakistan after that country's bloodless military coup on October 12."We can only make a full assessment of Pakistan when democracy is in place and we know the policies to be followed," Bond said.

"We are also very concerned about Pakistan's debt payments and settlement rescheduling and consider it to be a country in default," he said.

Pakistan on Monday offered a new bond to replace three existing sovereign euro bonds, and bankers have said the issue was a much-awaited rescheduling the country had promised its official lenders.

Bond also cautioned Sri Lanka from further postponing plans to get a sovereign rating, as it would help improve the country's perception in the eyes of foreign investors.