29 Sep 2023

India's CAD narrows to 1.1% of GDP for Q1FY23: RBI

The Reserve Bank of Indian (RBI) has said India's current account deficit (CAD) narrowed to $9.2 billion or 1.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the April-June period of current financial year (Q1FY23). The CAD stood at $17.9 billion or 2.1 per cent of GDP in the year-ago period. The current account deficit represents the difference between the total amount of money sent abroad and money received from overseas across the economy.

However, RBI stated that CAD has widened considerably compared to the $1.3 billion or 0.2 per cent level in the preceding quarter. The widening of CAD on a quarter-on-quarter basis was primarily on account of a higher trade deficit, coupled with a lower surplus in net services and decline in private transfer receipts.

Further, it stated that net services receipts decreased sequentially, primarily due to a decline in exports of computer, travel and business services, though was higher on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis. It also said private transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, moderated to $27.1 billion in the quarter against $28.6 billion in the quarter-ago period but were higher on a year-on-year basis. Moreover, it said net outgo on the income account, primarily reflecting payments of investment income, declined to $10.6 billion in the June quarter from $12.6 billion in the March quarter, but was higher than the year-ago period.