India's exposure to US govt securities touches a high of $124 bn in April

India increased its holding of American government securities to $124.1 billion at the end of April.

This is also the highest level since July 2016 when the exposure stood at $123.7 billion.

At the end of April, Japan had the maximum holding of $1.106 trillion, followed by China with $1.092 trillion.

The latest data available with the US Treasury Department show that India's exposure jumped by $7 billion to $124.1 billion in April. The country had held to the tune of $117.1 billion in March.

Among the BRICS nations, India had the third largest exposure to the US government securities after China and Brazil. Brazil's exposure stood at $267.7 billion in April.

During the same period, Russia's holding of the securities rose to $104.9 billion.

In a release earlier this month, the Treasury Department said foreign residents increased their holdings of US Treasury bills by $7.2 billion in April.

"Foreign resident holdings of all dollar-denominated short-term US securities and other custody liabilities increased by $26 billion," it added.

India has hiked its exposure to the securities amid the US economy seeing relatively better economic growth trends.

"Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 1.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2017," as per the latest estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that was released last month.