WASHINGTON, Jan 18: India’s holding of US government securities touched a one-year high of USD 80.5 billion in November 2014, amid the world’s largest economy witnessing signs of strong recovery.
This is also the highest ever since the new government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May last year.
However, mixed trends were seen among the BRICS grouping. While India, Brazil and South Africa hiked their exposure, China and Russia marginally trimmed their holdings.
India, which had trimmed its exposure to US Treasury securities to USD 77.5 billion in October last year, hiked it by USD 3 billion to USD 80.5 billion at end of November last.
Latest data available with the US Treasury Department show that India’s holding of its securities was at the highest one-year level in November, 2014.
In May last year, when the Modi government came to power, these holdings were worth USD 70.1 billion. Since then, the same was gradually increased and touched USD 80.4 billion last August.
However, in September, the holdings were cut to USD 80 billion and further down to USD 77.5 billion in October.
Despite reducing its exposure, China remained the largest holder of American government securities in November last with holdings worth USD 1.25 trillion.
During that month, Brazil and Russia’s holdings stood at USD 264.2 billion and USD 108.1 billion, respectively. South Africa, which has the lowest exposure among the BRICS nations, slightly increased its holdings to USD 10.4 billion in November.
Reflecting strong growth momentum, the American economy grew 5 per cent during the July-September quarter of 2014, much higher than 4.6 per cent expansion recorded in the preceding three months. (AGENCIES)
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