BoP narrows but remains surplus for fourth quarter in a row

The country's balance of payments (BoP) remained surplus for the fourth consecutive quarter (rpt) quarter at USD 6.9 billion for Q2, narrower than USD 11.2 billion surplus in Q1, RBI said here today.
The trade deficit in the September quarter rose to USD 38.6 billion from USD 34.6 billion a quarter ago, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
On a balance of payments basis (excluding valuation effects), the foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 18.1 billion during the September quarter as against a decline of USD 10.7 billion a year ago.
While, forex reserves in nominal terms, including the valuation effects, rose by USD 9.6 billion during the reporting quarter as against a decline of USD 14.8 billion during the same period last year, as per RBI data.

BoP is the record of all economic transactions between residents -- individuals, firms and government bodies -- of a country and the rest of the world in a particular period and therefore includes all external visible and non-visible transactions of a country during a given period.
On a BoP basis, merchandise export growth decelerated to 4.9 per cent in Q2 from 11.9 per cent in Q2 of last fiscal, while on a BoP basis, merchandise imports increased by 8.1 per cent in Q2 as against a decline of 4.8 per cent in Q2 of FY14, largely due to a sharp rise in gold imports.