India Remains 12th Largest Foreign Holder of US Govt Securities; Exposure Touches $144.7 Billion in 2017

Washington: India's exposure to US government securities rose sharply to a high of USD 144.7 billion at the end of 2017, according to latest official data.

The country remained the 12th largest overseas holder of such securities, just behind oil rich Saudi Arabia, whose holding stood at USD 147.4 billion in December 2017.

India has been raising its holding of American government securities during last year except for a few months when the total exposure had declined.

Figures compiled by the US Treasury Department show that the holding of India went up to USD 144.7 billion in December last, an increase of little over USD 26 billion compared to the year-ago period. In December 2016, the exposure was just USD 118.2 billion.

While holding at the end of December is at a one-year high compared to December 2016, the exposure was slightly higher at USD 145.1 billion in September 2017.

In 2017, neighbouring China was the largest holder of US government securities with holdings to the tune of USD 1.18 trillion, followed by Japan at USD 1.06 trillion. At the third position was Ireland whose exposure rose to USD 326.5 billion.

As per the data, Cayman Islands was at the fourth position with holding worth USD 269.9 billion, followed by Brazil (USD 256.8 billion), the UK (USD 250 billion), Switzerland (USD 249.6 billion), Luxembourg (USD 217.6 billion), Hong Kong (USD 194.7 billion) and Taiwan (USD 180.9 billion).

Among the BRIC countries, India had the third largest exposure while that of Russia was lower at USD 102.2 billion.

Earlier this month, preliminary data from the June 2017 benchmark survey of foreign portfolio holdings of US securities showed that the total value of such holding was USD 18.44 trillion. Out of the total, USD 7.19 trillion was in equities, USD 10.29 trillion in long-term debt securities and USD 954 billion in short-term debt securities.

"The previous survey, conducted as of June 30, 2016, measured the value of total foreign holdings of US securities at USD 17,139 billion, with holdings of USD 6,186 billion in US equities, USD 10,044 billion in US long-term debt securities and USD 909 billion in US short-term debt securities," the Treasury Department had said in a release.