India's current account deficit narrows to 0.2% of GDP in December qtr

India's current account deficit narrowed to USD 1.7 billion or 0.2 per cent of the GDP in the December quarter as against USD 2.6 billion or 0.4 per cent of GDP in the year-ago period, according to Reserve Bank data released on Wednesday.

In the current fiscal, the current account had been in surplus in the previous two quarters, at USD 15.1 billion and USD 19 billion, respectively, as per the data.

The critical metric of the country's external strength now stands at a surplus of 1.7 per cent of GDP for the first nine months of the fiscal year as against a deficit of 1.2 per cent in the year-ago period.

In the December quarter, there was a rise in the merchandise trade deficit to USD 34.5 billion from USD 14.8 billion in the preceding quarter, and an increase in net investment income payments, RBI said.