India’s current account deficit narrows to $1.3 bn in Jan-Mar 2022-23

India’s current account deficit (CAD) witnessed a narrow fall to $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2022-23 According to RBI data released on Tuesday, the moderation was because of slowdown in trade deficit and rise in services exports. The $1.3 billion deficit for the fourth quarter of 2022-23 means that India recorded a CAD of $67 billion in 2022-23 against a deficit of $38.7 billion in 2021-22. “The sequential decline in CAD in January-March 2023 was mainly on account of a moderation in the trade deficit to $52.6 billion in January-March 2023 from $71.3 billion in October-December 2022, coupled with robust services exports,” the RBI said in a statement. The country witnessed a jump in net services receipts on both sequential and year-on-year basis, due to a rise in net earnings from computer services. In addition to this, the RBI data further indicated that private transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, increased to $28.6 billion, up by 20.8 per cent from their level a year ago. Under financial accounts, India’s net foreign direct investment (FDI) stood at $6.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022-23, which was higher than $2 billion in the third quarter of 2022-23. Also in the January-March quarter of 2022-23, there was an accretion to the foreign exchange reserves (on a BoP basis) to $5.6 billion, as against a depletion of $16 billion in the corresponding period of 2021-22.