March quarter current account gap 3.6% of GDP

India's March quarter current account deficit was USD 18.1 billion, or 3.6 percent of GDP, lower than expected and below the USD 21.7 billion deficit a year earlier, the Reserve Bank of India said on Thursday.

A Reuters poll had forecast the March quarter current account deficit at USD 21.59 billion, or 4.4 percent of GDP.

Also read: Macroeconomic risks to economy rising: RBI

The current account gap for the full fiscal year that ended in March 2013 was USD 87.8 billion, which was 4.8 percent of GDP, compared with USD 78.2 billion a year earlier.

The balance of payments for the January-March quarter was a USD 2.68 billion surplus, compared with a USD 5.7 billion deficit a year earlier.

For fiscal year 2012/13, the balance of payments surplus was USD 3.83 billion, compared with a deficit of USD 12.8 billion a year earlier.