India Cuts Exposure to U.S. Government Securities At $67 Bn


WASHINGTON: India has reduced its exposure to the U.S. Government securities this year so far with the holding coming down to $67 billion. In the first two months of this year, India has trimmed its holding by more than $1 billion reversing the trend witnessed during the last few months of 2013. While India's holdings in February stood at $67 billion in February, the same was at $68.1 billion in the preceding month, according to latest data from the U.S. Treasury Department.

India held U.S. Treasury securities worth $68.5 billion in December last year. Growth prospects are slowly improving for the U.S., the world's largest economy, even as many of the developing countries are facing economic headwinds. In the fourth quarter of 2013, the American economy grew 2.6 percent, as per official figures. Meanwhile not only India, rest of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations too has trimmed their exposures in February compared to January.

Even though China cut its holding marginally, the country is still the largest holder of American government securities with holdings worth $1.27 trillion. Among the BRICS members, Brazil has the second largest exposure at $243.9 billion, followed by Russia whose holdings stood at $126.2 billion in February. South Africa held $11.4 billion worth such securities during the same period. Japan with securities holdings of $1.21 trillion at the end of February is the second largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities.

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Source: PTI