Foreign-owned assets in India up $45.2 billion to $436.4 billion in FY19
01 Jul 2019
Net claims of non-residents on India increased to $436.4 billion at the end of March, reflecting an increase of $45.2 billion in foreign-owned assets in India compared with an increase of $35.7 billion in Indian residents’ financial assets abroad, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated in its quarterly review on overseas liabilities and assets of India.
While traditionally, the increase in foreign-owned assets in India was primarily due to portfolio investment, direct investment and other investment, particularly loans, the dollar-rupee swap conducted by the Reserve Bank in March also helped the recent spike in reserve assets during the quarter.
Also, debt and non-debt liabilities owed to non-residents had almost equal shares in total liabilities.
The ratio of India’s international financial assets to international financial liabilities stood at 59.5 per cent at end-March 2019, against 58.7 per cent in December 2018.
International financial liabilities of Indians increased by $26.2 billion with direct investment and other investment increasing by $20.2 billion and $18.1 billion, respectively, while portfolio investment declined by $12.2 billion.
On the other hand, international financial assets of Indian residents held overseas increased by $8.4 billion during 2018-19). While reserve assets declined by $11.6 billion, direct investment and other investment overseas (trade credit, loans and currency and deposits) moved up by $12.6 billion and $6.3 billion, respectively.
Overall, net claims of non-residents on India increased by $17.9 billion.
The ratio of total overseas financial assets of Indian residents declined to 23.4 per cent of GDP in March 2019, from 24.1 per cent a year ago.
The ratio of total claims of non-residents to GDP declined to 39.2 per cent in March 2019 from 40 per cent a year ago.
The ratio of net IIP of India to GDP remained unchanged from a year ago at (-) 15.9 per cent in March 2019.