MUMBAI: Foreign-owned assets in India crossed the $1-trillion-mark to reach $1.037 trillion during the quarter ending December 31, 2017 after surging by $38.6 billion during the period.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the figures yesterday as part of the disclosure of data relating to India’s International Investment Position (IIP).
The growth in foreign-owned assets was supported by broad-based contribution from foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investment, currency and deposits as well as trade credit, though the outstanding commercial loans declined marginally during the quarter.
The net claims of non-residents on India increased by $26.3 billion to $429.7 billion as of December end, 2017 compared with $403.4 billion a quarter ago.
The Indian residents’ overseas assets increased by $12.3 billion to $607.6 billion from $595.3 billion during this period, a substantial portion of which came from increase in the reserve assets, according to RBI data.
“Appreciation of Indian rupee against the US dollar (by 2.2 per cent) during the quarter partly explained the increase in India’s liabilities when valued in US dollar terms,” RBI explained.
While reserve assets accounted for over two-thirds of India’s international assets, debt and non-debt liabilities had an almost equal share in total liabilities.
The ratio of India’s international financial assets to international financial liabilities stood at 58.6 per cent as of end-December 2017 (59.6 per cent a quarter ago).
