India’s International Investment Position (IIP), March 2019

Today, the Reserve Bank released data relating to India’s International Investment Position as at end-March 2019.

Key Features of India’s IIP in March 2019

I. Quarterly Variations:

• Net claims of non-residents on India increased to US$ 436.4 billion reflecting an increase of US$ 45.2 billion in foreign-owned assets in India vis-à-vis an increase of US$ 35.7 billion in Indian residents’ financial assets abroad (Table 1).
• The increase in foreign-owned assets in India was primarily due to portfolio investment, direct investment and other investment, particularly loans.
• With the dollar-rupee swap conducted by the Reserve Bank in March, reserve assets increased sizably during the quarter (Table 3).
• Debt and non-debt liabilities owed to non-residents had almost equal shares in total liabilities (Table 4).
• The ratio of India’s international financial assets to international financial liabilities stood at 59.5 per cent at end-March 2019 (58.7 per cent in December 2018).

II. Annual Variations

• International financial assets of Indian residents increased by US$ 8.4 billion during 2018-19 (Table 1); while reserve assets declined by US$ 11.6 billion, direct investment and other investment overseas (trade credit, loans and currency and deposits) moved up by US$ 12.6 billion and US$ 6.3 billion, respectively.
• International financial liabilities increased by US$ 26.2 billion with direct investment and other investment increasing by US$ 20.2 billion and US$ 18.1 billion, respectively, while portfolio investment declined by US$ 12.2 billion.
• Overall, net claims of non-residents on India increased by US$ 17.9 billion.

III. Ratio of International Financial Assets and Liabilities to GDP

• 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 (Table 2).
• The ratio of total claims of non-residents to GDP declined to 39.2 per cent in March 2019 from 40.0 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.

Source: India’s International Investment Position (IIP), March 2019