India's current account deficit widened to USD 16.9 billion, or 2.5 percent of the GDP in the last three months of 2018 from USD 13.7 billion or 2.1 percent of the GDP a year earlier. The goods deficit increased to USD 49.5 billion from USD 44 billion a year ago as imports rose 9 percent while exports went up at a softer 7.2 percent. On the other hand, the services surplus increased to USD 21.3 billion from USD 20.7 billion, boosted by a rise in net earnings from telecommunications, computer and information services and financial services. The primary income gap decreased to USD 6 billion from USD 6.5 billion and the secondary income surplus rose to USD 17.3 billion from USD 16.1 billion. Current Account in India averaged -2107.79 USD Million from 1949 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 7360 USD Million in the first quarter of 2004 and a record low of -31857.18 USD Million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Current Account in India is expected to be -13000.00 USD Million by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Current Account in India to stand at -13500.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the India Current Account is projected to trend around -14600.00 USD Million in 2020, according to our econometric models.