India's gobbles up US bonds as holding crosses $100 billion mark

Logging fresh one-year high, India's exposure to US government securities reached $101.7 billion as the country purchased nearly $10 billion worth bonds in just one month.

The holdings crossed the $100 billion-mark in February, the highest level in more than a year, as per the latest data available with the Treasury Department.

In January also, India's holding had hit a one-year high of $91.2 billion.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government came to the power in May last year, the country's exposure to such securities have been on the rise. In May last year, the holding stood at $70.1 billion.

In February, Japan emerged as the largest holder of American government securities pushing China to second place.

Japan's holding stood at $1.224 trillion while that of China touched $1.223 trillion.

Among the BRIC nations, India is the third-largest holder of these securities after China and Brazil ($259.9 billion). Russia's exposure declined to $69.6 billion in February.

In the first three months of this year, US economy unexpectedly witnessed slower growth with the GDP expanding just 0.2%.

"Real gross domestic product -- the value of the production of goods and services in the US, adjusted for price changes -- increased at an annual rate of 0.2% in the first quarter of 2015," the Bureau of Economic Analysis' advance estimated released on April 29 said.

In the 2014 fourth quarter, real GDP had increased 2.2%.