India's net overseas debt falls $13.2 billion to $65.3 billion in Q4
21 Jul 2009
Net claims of non-residents on India as reflected by the net international investment position or (international assets minus international liabilities) of India as of end-March 2009, declined by $13.2 billion to $65.3 billion from $78.5 billion as of end-December 2008.
India's total external financial assets increased by $8 billion to $349.9 billion as of end-March 2009 compared to the previous quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said in a release.
Other investments increased by $7.8 billion over end-December 2008 and stood at $29.9 billion as of end-March 2009. Direct investments abroad increased by $4.8 billion over the previous quarter to $67.3 billion as of end-March 2009.
The increase in other investment component of foreign assets was mainly on trade credits and currency and deposits.
Portfolio investment abroad, however, declined by $0.6 billion to $0.8 billion as of end-March 2009, primarily due to a decline in investment in equity securities abroad, the RBI said in the March release of `External Debt Statistics of India'.
Reserve assets with the RBI stood at $251.9 billion exceeding the entire external debt ($229.9 billion) by $22.0 billion as of end-March 2009.