India's holding of US government bonds touch $4 bn in May

India increased its exposure to US government securities by USD 31 billion in the first five months of the year, taking the overall holdings to USD 114 billion in May.

This is also the highest level of holding by India in more than a year. Latest data from the US Treasury Department shows that China continued to have the maximum exposure to American government securities with May holdings touching USD 1.27 trillion.

In May, India's holding climbed to USD 114 billion from USD 110.3 billion in April. The total exposure has surged by 31 billion in the first five months of 2015. Last December, the holding stood at just USD 83 billion, according to the data.

Since May last year, the country has been steadily raising its exposure to the American government securities. Interestingly, the US economy has been sluggish in recent months and its GDP contracted for the 2015 March quarter.

"The decrease in real GDP in the first quarter primarily reflected negative contributions from exports, nonresidential fixed investment, and state and local government spending that were partly offset by positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, private inventory investment, and residential fixed investment," the US Bureau of Economic Analysis had said last month.

Meanwhile, Japan had the second highest exposure to American government securities with holdings worth USD 1.21 trillion in May. Among the other BRIC nations, Brazil's holdings stood at USD 258.5 billion while that of Russia touched USD 70.6 billion during the period.