Has Prime Minister Narendra Modi forced Moody's to consider India for a sovereign rating upgrade? Modi's concerted efforts to put pressure on Moody's by harsh criticism of its assessment and even efforts to delegitimise it may have worked in India's favour.India had for long criticised western rating agencies. But during the Modi government the criticism got sharper. In May, India’s chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian voiced what Indian government had been feeling for long — the western rating agencies are unfair towards India. He said the methodology of the ratings firms was “one of the most egregious examples of compromised analysis.”Reuters reported in December last year that India criticised Moody’s ratings methods and pushed aggressively for an upgrade, but the agency declined to budge citing concerns over the country’s debt levels and fragile banks.In letters and emails written in October last year, the finance ministry questioned Moody’s methodology, saying it was not accounting for a steady decline in the India’s debt burden in recent years, the Reuters reported. The ministry said the agency ignored countries’ levels of development when assessing their fiscal strength.While Moody's must have taken the criticism in its stride, Modi's threat to back his words with action could have moved it. For two years, Modi had been making efforts to convince the BRICS countries to form their own rating agency that could rate developing countries fairly. The global credit rating market has been dominated by just three agencies — Moody's, S&P and Fitch . A parallel agency for BRICS and other developing countries would have at least delegitimised the three global giants. Emerging economies have become the fulcrum of world economy and such a disruptive move by them would have hit hard at the reputation of these companies.At the Goa Summit of BRICS countries last year, Modi said, "In order to further bridge the gap in the global financial architecture, we agreed to fast track the setting up of a BRICS Rating Agency.”He again raised the issue at the Xiamen Summit this year.Modi's idea of a BRICS rating agency had remained just an idea as other countries did not show any particular zeal to turn it into reality. But what changed things was China's stance.In May, Moody's downgraded China's sovereign rating by a notch, a first for China in 28 years. China too spoke out against the agency.The Chinese finance ministry said the revision was based on inappropriate methodology. Russia, Brazil and South Africa too had voiced their concerns over fairness of western rating agencies.Moody's could have figured out that China's downgrading could make it more amenable to Modi's idea of a BRICS ratings agency. With China throwing its weight behind Modi, the BRICS rating agency could have become reality sooner or later. Two of the world's biggest economies boycotting western rating agencies would have become very challenging for them.