India further trimmed its holdings of the US Government securities to $115.6 billion in August amid continuing global economic uncertainties. After hiking the exposure to these securities for eight consecutive months till June, India has now reduced the exposure for two straight months in July and August.
As per the latest data from the the US Treasury Department, India's holdings came down to $115.6 billion in August from $116.4 billion recorded in July.
China remained the largest holder of the US Government securities and its holdings rose to $1.271 trillion while Japan was at the second spot with $1.197 trillion worth exposure. Among the BRIC nations, Brazil also lowered its holdings in August, trimming its exposure to $255.3 billion from $257.9 billion seen in July. However, Russia significantly raised its holdings to $89.9 billion in August. According to the Treasury Department, foreign residents lowered their holdings of long term US securities in August.
“Foreign residents decreased their holdings of long-term US securities in August; net sales were $21.8 billion. Net purchases by private foreign investors were $19.8 billion, while net sales by foreign official institutions were $41.5 billion,” it said in a statement last week.
Despite concerns about global economic conditions, the US economy has been seeing improvement and its GDP grew 3.9 per cent in June quarter.