India’s current account deficit widened to $23 billion, or 2.7 per cent of GDP, in the December quarter, the Reserve Bank said on Thursday.

The health of the current account, which is a key indicator of a country’s external strength, has deteriorated when compared with the preceding September quarter as well as the year-ago period.

The deficit was at $9.9 billion, or 1.3 per cent of GDP, in the second quarter of the fiscal while the same stood at $2.2 billion, or 0.3 per cent of GDP, in the year-ago period, the data on balance of payments showed.

For the first nine months of the fiscal, the current account deficit came at 1.2 per cent of GDP against a surplus of 1.7 per cent in the April-December 2020 period.

The widening of the current account deficit in the December quarter was attributed by the central bank to pressures on the trade deficit front with the gap on the goods front increasing to $60.4 billion against $34.6 billion in the year-ago period due to rising imports.

Net services receipts increased, both sequentially and on a year-on-year basis, on the back of robust performance of net exports of computer and business services.

Private transfer receipts, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, came at $23.4 billion, which is an increase of 13.1 per cent from their level a year ago, according to the data.