v India’s current account balance (CAB) recorded a deficit of $8.1 billion (1.0 per cent of GDP) in the fourth quarter ended March 2021, as against a surplus of $0.6 billion (0.1 per cent of GDP) in Q4 of 2019-20 and a deficit of $2.2 billion (0.3 per cent of GDP) in the preceding quarter.
v According to the RBI, the current account deficit in Q4 of 2020-21 was primarily on account of a higher trade deficit and lower net invisible receipts than in the corresponding period of the previous year. “Net services receipts increased on the back of a rise in net earnings from computer, transport and business services,” it said.
v Private transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, increased to $20.9 billion, up by 1.7 per cent from their level a year ago. A normalisation in import demand as well as a surge in gold imports contributed to the widening of the current account deficit.
v RBI said net external commercial borrowing had fallen to $6.1 billion in JanuaryMarch compared with $9.4 billion a year earlier, but portfolio investments, mainly in the form of equity purchases, rose by $7.3 billion versus a decline of $13.7 billion.
