Washington, Aug 23 : Indian-origin American, Deven Sharma, President of Standard & Poor is to step down from his post next month, and leave the company by the end of the year, amid outrage over the company's downgrading of the United States' credit rating.

Sharma's plans to resign come as the ratings agency is under pressure on several fronts, including an inquiry by the Justice Department into its ratings of sub prime mortgage securities, and a push by activist investors to break up its parent company, McGraw-Hill, the New York Times reports.

Sharma, 55, will step down on September 12, but will remain with the company through the end of the year to help oversee McGraw-Hill's review of its businesses, the paper said.

He will be replaced by Douglas Peterson, who is currently the chief operating officer of Citibank, the banking unit of Citigroup.

"We are pleased to welcome Doug to the important role of president of Standard & Poor's as it continues to build on the enhancements of recent years and accelerates global growth," Harold McGraw III, McGraw-Hill's chief executive, said in a statement.

"As we welcome Doug, I particularly want to thank Deven for his dedicated leadership of S&P, he added. (ANI)