Mumbai: The country's balance of payments (BoP) remained surplus for the fourth consecutive year at USD 6.9 billion for the second quarter, narrower than USD 11.2 billion surplus in the first quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said Monday.
The trade deficit in the September quarter rose to USD 38.6 billion from USD 34.6 billion a quarter ago, according to RBI data.
On a balance of payments basis (excluding valuation effects), the foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 18.1 billion during the September quarter as against a decline of USD 10.7 billion a year ago.
While, forex reserves in nominal terms, including the valuation effects, rose by USD 9.6 billion during the reporting quarter as against a decline of USD 14.8 billion during the same period last year, as per RBI data.
BoP is the record of all economic transactions between residents -- individuals, firms and government bodies -- of a country and the rest of the world in a particular period and therefore includes all external visible and non-visible transactions of a country during a given period.
On a BoP basis, merchandise export growth decelerated to 4.9 percent in Q2 from 11.9 percent in Q2 of last fiscal, while on a BoP basis, merchandise imports increased by 8.1 percent in Q2 as against a decline of 4.8 percent in Q2 of FY14, largely due to a sharp rise in gold imports.
