India recorded a current account surplus of $2.8 billion during April-May 2026, compared with a deficit of $4.1 billion in the corresponding period last year, mainly aided by higher inward remittances from abroad and a rise in services exports, RBI data showed on Wednesday.
However, the country's overall balance of payments registered a deficit of $11 billion during the first two months of the current fiscal year, compared to a surplus of $5 billion in the same period last year, according to the data.
The merchandise trade deficit widened to $55.9 billion during the first two months of 2026-27 from $49.7 billion during April-May last fiscal year.
4 July 2026
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Imports rose to $146.5 billion during the period under review from $127.1 billion, while exports increased to $90.7 billion from $77.4 billion.
According to the Reserve Bank's preliminary data on India's balance of payments (BoP) for May, net services receipts increased to $34.3 billion in April-May 2026 from $31.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Services exports rose to $70.4 billion from $65.3 billion in April-May 2025.
Net transfers, which include inward remittances from overseas, rose to $29.6 billion during April-May 2026 from $20 billion in the year-ago period.
The data also showed that the net income outgo improved marginally to $5.2 billion from $6 billion.
On the capital account side, net foreign direct investment stood at $6.5 billion during April-May 2026, up from $2.5 billion in the corresponding period last year.
On the other hand, net foreign portfolio investment recorded a larger outflow of $12 billion compared to $0.8 billion a year ago.
