India logs marginal improvement in ratio of foreign assets to liabilities in Dec

The Reserve Bank released data relating to India's International Investment Position (IIP) for December, which showed a marginal improvement in the ratio of foreign assets to foreign liabilities.

The ratio of India's international financial assets to international financial liabilities improved to 62.1 per cent at the end of December 2019, up from 60.5 per cent in September, the centralbank said.

Netclaims of non-residents on India declined by USD 10.4 billion to USD 426.5 billion for the three months toDecember on ahigher increase of USD 28.3 billion in Indian residents' overseas financial assets during the quarter in comparison with a rise of USD 17.9 billion in foreign owned assets in India, it said.

An increase in reserve assets at USD 26.2 billion was the dominant contributor to higher increase in Indian residents' overseas financial assets, followed by overseas direct investments of USD 3.3 billion, it said.

Direct investments and portfolio investment liabilities increased by USD 9.8 billion and USD 6.7 billion, respectively, during the quarter.

Depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar during the period contributed to the reduction in India's liabilities, the RBI said.

Reserve assets accounted for nearly 65 per cent of total foreign assets, according to the central bank.