New Delhi, Jan 31: As of end- November 2021, India was the fourth largest forex reserves holder in the world after China, Japan, and Switzerland, the Economic Survey 2021-22 said on Monday.
The Survey, tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, also said that India’s external sector is resilient to face any unwinding of the global liquidity arising out of the likelihood of faster normalisation of monetary policy by systemically important central banks, including the Fed, in response to elevated inflationary pressures.
It said that a sizeable accretion in reserves led to an improvement in external vulnerability indicators such as foreign exchange reserves to total external debt, short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves, etc.
The robust capital flows were sufficient to finance the modest current account deficit, resulting in an overall balance of payments (BoP) surplus of US$ 63.1 billion in H1 of 2021-22, that led to an augmented foreign exchange reserves crossing the milestone of US$ 600 billion and touched US$ 633.6 billion as of December 31, 2021.
It said while the resilience of India’s external sector during the current year augurs well for growth revival in the economy, the downside risks of global liquidity tightening and continued volatility of global commodity prices, high freight costs, coupled with the fresh resurgence of Covid-19 with new variants may pose a challenge for India during 2022-23.
The Survey said that External trade recovered strongly in 2021-22 after the pandemic-induced slump of the previous year, with strong capital flows into India, leading to a rapid accumulation of foreign exchange reserves. Owing to the recovery of global demand coupled with revival in domestic activity, India’s merchandise exports and imports rebounded strongly and surpassed pre-COVID levels during the current financial year.
The revival in exports was also helped by timely initiatives taken by the Government. The USA followed by UAE and China remained the top export destinations in April-November, 2021, while China, UAE and USA were the largest import sources for India.
Despite weak tourism revenues, there was significant pickup in net services receipts during April-December, 2021 on account of robust software and business earnings, with both receipts and payments crossing the pre-pandemic levels.
India’s current account balance turned into deficit of 0.2 percent of GDP in the first half (H1) of 2021-22, largely led by deficit in trade account. Net capital flows were higher at US$ 65.6 billion in H1: 2021-22, on account of continued inflow of foreign investment, revival in net external commercial borrowings (ECBs), higher banking capital and additional special drawing rights (SDR) allocation.
India’s external debt rose to US$ 593.1 billion as at end-September 2021, from US$ 556.8 billion a year earlier, reflecting additional SDR allocation by IMF, coupled with higher commercial borrowings. The robust capital flows were sufficient to finance the modest current account deficit, resulting in an overall balance of payments (BoP) surplus of US$ 63.1 billion in H1 of 2021-22, that led to an augmented foreign exchange reserves crossing the milestone of US$ 600 billion and touched US$ 633.6 billion as of December 31, 2021, it said.
