India's current account slips into deficit in second quarter

India's current account slipped into a deficit of USD 9.6 billion or 1.3 per cent of GDP in the September quarter, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

The current account, which records the value of exports and imports of both goods and services along with international transfers of capital, was in a surplus mode both in the quarter-ago and year-ago periods.

India's current account surplus had stood at USD 6.6 billion or 0.9 per cent of GDP in the April-June 2021 quarter, while in the year-ago period (Q2FY22), the surplus had stood at USD 15.3 billion or 2.4 per cent of the GDP, the data said.

For the reporting quarter, the deficit was mainly due to widening of trade deficit to USD 44.4 billion from USD 30.7 billion in the preceding quarter, and an increase in net outgo of investment income, the RBI said.

Net services receipts decreased marginally over the preceding quarter but increased on a year-on-year basis, on the back of robust performance of the exports of computer and business services, it added.