India records 0.2% current account deficit in December quarter

India's current account deficit narrowed to $1.7 billion or 0.2 per cent of the GDP in the December quarter as against $2.6 billion or 0.4 per cent of GDP in the year-ago period, according to Reserve Bank data released on Wednesday.

In the current fiscal, the current account had been in surplus in the previous two quarters, at $15.1 billion and $19 billion, respectively, as per the data.

The critical metric of the country's external strength now stands at a surplus of 1.7 per cent of GDP for the first nine months of the fiscal year as against a deficit of 1.2 per cent in the year-ago period.

In the December quarter, there was a rise in the merchandise trade deficit to $34.5 billion from $14.8 billion in the preceding quarter, and an increase in net investment income payments, RBI said.