India's current account deficit widens to 2.8% of GDP in April-June

MUMBAI: India's current account deficit (CAD) widened to $23.9 billion or 2.8 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in April-June period of the current financial year from $13.4 billion recorded in the previous quarter, as per data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday.

India's current account balance recorded a deficit of $23.9 billion (2.8 per cent of GDP) in Q1:2022-23, up from US$ 13.4 billion (1.5 per cent of GDP) in Q4:2021-221 and a surplus of $6.6 billion (0.9 per cent of GDP) a year ago [i.e., Q1:2021-22], the RBI said in a statement.

The RBI on Thursday released the preliminary data on India's balance of payments (BoP) for the first quarter (Q1), i.e., April-June 2022-23.

Underlying the current account deficit in Q1:2022-23 was the widening of the merchandise trade deficit to $68.6 billion from $54.5 billion in Q4:2021-22 and an increase in net outgo of investment income payments.

Net services receipts increased, both sequentially and on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, on the back of rising exports of computer and business services.