 "India trims American govt securities exposure to $118.8 bn")
After hiking its exposure to US government securities in the past few months, India trimmed the holdings to $118.8 billion in February even as neighbouring China purchased more such instruments.
All the BRIC nations, except China, cut their exposure to these securities in February, with Russia reducing its holding by $9 billion to $87.6 billion.
Latest data available with the US Treasury Department shows that India's holding came down to $118.8 billion in February compared to $119.8 billion recorded in January this year.
Since November, India had been raising its exposure and at that time the holdings were worth $115.4 billion. It went up marginally to $116.8 billion in December.
In the case of Brazil, the holding was significantly reduced to $247.3 billion in February from $255.7 billion seen in January. During this period, Russia's exposure fell to $87.6 billion from $96.9 billion.
However, China remained the largest holder of US Treasury securities with holdings worth $1.252 trillion in February, slightly higher than $1.237 trillion seen in January.
The second biggest exposure was that of Japan at $1.133 trillion.
Meanwhile, US economic growth slowed to 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to the previous three months.
"Real GDP growth slowed to 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter from 2 per cent in the third quarter. Retail trade was the leading contributor to the deceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter," the US Bureau of Economic Analysis said on April 21.
