Mumbai: US treasuries, it appears, are still the safest bets for India’s central bank to park its reserves.
India recovered more than half of US treasuries it sold in March as it bought $13.4 billion of such securities during April-May, having sold $21 billion in March. India witnessed more dollar inflows during the period after a drawdown in March.
India’s investment in US treasury securities touched $169.9 billion in May, from $156.5 billion in March, according to the latest data released by the US treasury department. Most of the investments are by the RBI from its forex reserves.
“In the current circumstances, dollars are the safest and the most liquid asset that the central bank can park its funds in,” said Soumyajit Neogi, associate director, India Ratings and Research. “Besides, with the US Fed opening up a dollar NSE 0.53 % swap window to provide dollar liquidity with many central banks, investing in US treasuries provides a guaranteed liquidity support at times of need.”
RBI parks a sizeable amount of its reserves with sovereign bonds of top-rated economies, and in deposits with other central banks and multilateral agencies and in the form of gold. India now ranks 12th among the foreign investors in US treasuries.
Source:- economictimes.indiatimes.com