India's exposure to US govt securities touches $119.8bn in Jan

Washington: Continuing to purchase more US government securities, India's overall holding of such instruments climbed to USD 119.8 billion in January.

Notwithstanding mixed growth trends in the world's largest economy, India has been gradually hiking exposure to these securities in recent months.

In January alone, India bought American government securities to the tune of USD 3 billion taking the overall holding to USD 119.8 billion, as per the latest data from the US Treasury Department.

The total exposure stood at USD 116.8 billion at the end of December 2015. Last year, India's exposure rose by nearly USD 34 billion.

In the first six months of 2015, India gradually raised exposure to USD 117 billion, before slightly trimming the holding to USD 116.4 billion in July. Then, it inched up to USD 116.8 billion at December end.

Despite a marginal decline in its exposure compared to December, China remained the largest holder of US government securities with holdings to the tune of USD 1.24 trillion in January this year, followed by Japan at USD 1.12 trillion.

Among the BRIC nations, Brazil and Russia too raised their exposure. While the holding of Brazil touched USD 255.7 billion in January, that of Russia touched USD 96.9 billion during the same period.

Those countries, whose exposure was more than India in January, include Ireland (USD 252.2 billion), Switzerland (USD 237.4 billion) and Hong Kong (USD 201.6 billion).

The US economy grew 1 percent in the three months ended December last year compared to 2 percent expansion seen in the 2015 third quarter.

According to the second estimate released last month by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the country's real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.