The financial assets held by Indian residents abroad declined by $3.3 billion during the quarter ended September, 2014, to $488.5 billion when compared to the previous quarter.
This drop is mainly due to a decrease of $2.3 billion in reserve assets.
According to the date released by the Reserve Bank of India on the International Investment Position (IIP), foreign-owned assets in India increased by $3.5 billion over the previous quarter to $842.1 billion. The rise is primarily due to an increase of $1.9 billion in direct investment. Further, an increase of $0.9 billion in portfolio investment also helped to boost the foreign-owned assets in India.
Among other investment liabilities, currency and deposits increased by $2.5 billion and loans (mainly external commercial borrowings) decreased by $0.9 billion, the data showed.
Net claims of non-residents on India (as reflected by the net IIP) increased by $6.8 billion over the previous quarter to $353.7 billion as at end-September 2014. “This change in the net position reflected a $3.5 billion increase in the value of foreign-owned assets in India vis-à-vis a $3.3 billion decrease in the value of Indian residents’ financial assets abroad,” the RBI said.
The ratio of India’s international financial assets to global liabilities stood at 58 per cent in September 2014 as against 58.6 per cent in June 2014.
Reserve assets continued to have the dominant share (64.2 per cent) in India’s international financial assets in September 2014, followed by direct investment abroad (26.5 per cent).
