India's January-March current account balance at 0.6% surplus riding on high service exports

The surplus amounted to $5.7 billion, equivalent to 0.6 percent of the GDP, for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023-24.

This is a major turnaround from the preceding quarter, which saw a deficit of $8.7 billion or 1 percent of GDP.

A year earlier, in the same quarter, there was a deficit of $1.3 billion, representing 0.2 percent of GDP.

For the full fiscal year, the current account deficit narrowed to $23.2 billion, or 0.7 percent of GDP, compared to $67 billion, or 2 percent of GDP, in the previous year.

This improvement was largely due to a reduced merchandise trade deficit.

The RBI highlighted that services exports grew by 4.1 percent year-on-year in the fourth fiscal quarter, driven by increased exports of software, travel, and business services.

Net services receipts totaled $42.7 billion, up from $39.1 billion a year earlier, contributing positively to the current account surplus.

In terms of merchandise trade, the deficit narrowed to $50.9 billion in the quarter from $52.6 billion a year ago.

The RBI also noted that the merchandise trade deficit for May was $23.78 billion, up from $19.1 billion in April.

Private transfer receipts, primarily remittances from Indians working overseas, saw a notable increase of 11.9 percent year-on-year to reach $32 billion.