What is "Current Account"?

Current Account is the aggregation of all international transactions between India and the rest of the world. It includes goods, services, income payments and unilateral transfers.

Goods are tangible items exchanged between countries in terms of import or export. For example, cars, mobile handsets, oil etc. A positive entry under goods section of current account means "export of goods" from India to any other country. A negative entry under goods section of current account means "import of goods" to India from any other country.

Services are intangible items exchanged between countries in terms of import or export. For example, software services, consultancy, accounting services etc. A positive entry under services section of current account means "export of services" from India to any other country. A negative entry under services section of current account means "import of services" to India from any other country.

Income Payments: Any exchange of money between Indian citizen or company and foreign citizen or company in the form of income earned from physical or financial assets. A positive entry under "income payments" means income earned on physical or financial assets abroad. A negative entry under "income payments" means income paid to foreign countries as an income earned by those countries on physical or financial assets within India.

Unilateral Transfers: A positive entry under "unilateral transfers" means transfers of money to India from outside India for which there is no goods or services delivered. An example is the transfer of money by an NRI from outside India to his/her family within India. A negative entry under "unilateral transfer" means transfer of money from India to outside India for which there is no goods or services delivered. An example is the transfer of money, by a foreign national working in India, to any other country from India.

For example: The data downloaded for the Jan-Mar 2013 quarter from the RBI website at this link is shown below. The constituents of Current Account are highlighted in red font in this table reproduced below based on the downloaded data.

Statement I: Standard Presentation of BoP in India as per BPM6
				(US$ Million)
		Jan-Mar 2013 P
		Credit	Debit	Net
1	Current Account (1.A+1.B+1.C)	142041	160118	-18078
1.A	Goods and Services (1.A.a+1.A.b)	122591	151267	-28676
1.A.a	Goods (1.A.a.1 to 1.A.a.3)	84772	130408	-45635
1.A.a.1	General merchandise on a BOP basis	82893	113985	-31092
1.A.a.1.1	Re-exports			0
1.A.a.2	Net exports of goods under merchanting	1880	609	1270
1.A.a.2.1	Goods acquired under merchanting (negative credits)	1880		1880
1.A.a.2.2	Goods sold under merchanting		609	-609
1.A.a.3	Nonmonetary gold		15813	-15813
1.A.b	Services (1.A.b.1 to 1.A.b.13)	37819	20859	16960
1.A.b.1	Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others	12	12	0
1.A.b.1.1	Goods for processing in reporting economy	12	12	0
1.A.b.1.2	Goods for processing abroad			0
1.A.b.2	Maintenance and repair services n.i.e.	36	80	-43
1.A.b.3	Transport	4513	3433	1080
1.A.b.3.1	Sea transport	3059	2456	603
1.A.b.3.1.1	Passenger	34	97.1	-63
1.A.b.3.1.2	Freight	2589	2099	491
1.A.b.3.1.3	Other	435	260	175
1.A.b.3.2	Air transport	1379	952	427
1.A.b.3.2.1	Passenger	96.2	422	-326
1.A.b.3.2.2	Freight	1214	455	759
1.A.b.3.2.3	Other	69	75	-6
1.A.b.3.3	Other modes of transport	62	18	44
1.A.b.3.3.1	Passenger	4	2	2
1.A.b.3.3.2	Freight	58	16	42
1.A.b.3.3.3	Other			0
1.A.b.3.4	Postal and courier services	13	6	7
1.A.b.3.4.1	Sea transport	0	1	-1
1.A.b.3.4.2	Air transport	12	3	9
1.A.b.3.4.3	Other modes of transport	1	3	-2
1.A.b.3.0.1	Passenger	134	521	-387
1.A.b.3.0.2	Freight	3861	2570	1291
1.A.b.3.0.3	Others	505	335	169
1.A.b.4	Travel	5,489	2,719	2770
1.A.b.4.1	Business	353	1306	-952
1.A.b.4.2	Personal	5,136	1413	3723
1.A.b.4.2.1	Health-related	85	26	59
1.A.b.4.2.2	Education-related	85	406	-321
1.A.b.4.2.3	Other	4966	982	3985
1.A.b.5	Construction	301	455	-154
1.A.b.5.1	Construction abroad	231	320	-90
1.A.b.5.2	Construction in the reporting economy	70	134	-64
1.A.b.6	Insurance and pension services	604	305	300
1.A.b.6.1	Direct insurance	486	59	427
1.A.b.6.2	Reinsurance	95	217	-122
1.A.b.6.3	Auxiliary insurance services	18	26	-9
1.A.b.6.4	Pension and standardized guarantee services	6	2	4
1.A.b.7	Financial services	1093	1192	-99
1.A.b.7.1	Explicitly charged and other financial services	1012	1052	-39
1.A.b.7.2	Financial intermediation services indirectly measured	81	140	-60
1.A.b.8	Charges for the use of intellectual property n.i.e.	65	1159	-1094
1.A.b.9	Telecommunications, computer, and information services	18217	952	17265
1.A.b.9.1	Telecommunications services	454	247	207
1.A.b.9.2	Computer services	17691	586	17106
1.A.b.9.3	Information services	72	120	-47
1.A.b.10	Other business services	6569	7484	-915
1.A.b.10.1	Research and development services	212	67	145
1.A.b.10.2	Professional and management consulting services	3069	2554	515
1.A.b.10.3	Technical, trade-related, and other business services	3288	4863	-1575
1.A.b.11	Personal, cultural, and recreational services	262	144	119
1.A.b.11.1	Audiovisual and related services	139	45	94
1.A.b.11.2	Other personal, cultural, and recreational services	123	99	25
1.A.b.12	Government goods and services n.i.e.	126	323	-197
1.A.b.13	Others n.i.e.	529	2602	-2073
1.B	Primary Income (1.B.1to1.B.3)	2,640	7,825	-5185
1.B.1	Compensation of employees	800	574	226
1.B.2	Investment income	1547	6819	-5272
1.B.2.1	Direct investment	479	3009	-2530
1.B.2.1.1	Income on equity and investment fund shares	474	2,983	-2510
1.B.2.1.2	Interest	5	25	-21
1.B.2.2	Portfolio investment	31	943	-912
1.B.2.2.1	Investment income on equity and investment fund shares	0	300	-300
1.B.2.2.2	Interest	31	643	-611
1.B.2.3	Other investment	77	2866	-2790
1.B.2.4	Reserve assets	960	1	959
1.B.3	Other primary income	293	432	-139
1.C	Secondary Income (1.C.1+1.C.2)	16,810	1,027	15783
1.C.1	Financial corporations, nonfinancial corporations, households, and NPISHs	16,798	1,010	15788
1.C.1.1	Personal transfers (Current transfers between resident  and non-resident households)	16,220	918	15302
Of which:				0
1.C.1.1.1	Workers’ remittances	7,845	918	6928
1.C.1.2	Other current transfers	578	92	486
1.C.2	General Governments	12	17	-5
2	Capital Account (2.1+2.2)	581	430	150
2.1	Gross acquisitions (DR.)/disposals (CR.) of non-produced nonfinancial assets	6	10	-4
2.2	Capital transfers	574	420	154
2.2.1	General government	86	178	-92
2.2.1.1	Debt forgiveness			0
2.2.1.2	Other capital transfers	86	178	-92
2.2.2	Financial corporations, nonfinancial corporations, households, and NPISHs	488	241	247
2.2.2.1	Debt forgiveness			0
2.2.2.2	Other capital transfers including migrants transfers	488	241	247
3	Financial Account (3.1 to 3.5)	133334	115708	17626
3.1	Direct Investment (3.1A+3.1B)	10658	4924	5733
3.1.A	Direct Investment in India	9064	1893	7171
3.1.1	Equity and investment fund shares	8483	1856	6627
3.1.1.1	Equity other than reinvestment of earnings	5751	1856	3895
3.1.1.1.1	Direct investor in direct investment enterprises	5751	1856	3895
3.1.1.1.2	Direct investment enterprises in direct investor (reverse investment)			0
3.1.1.1.3	Between fellow enterprises			0
3.1.1.2	Reinvestment of earnings	2732		2732
3.1.2	Debt instruments	581	37	544
3.1.2.1	Direct investor in direct investment enterprises	581	37	544
3.1.2.2	Direct investment enterprises in direct investor (reverse investment)			0
3.1.2.3	Between fellow enterprises			0
3.1.B	Direct Investment by India	1594	3032	-1438
3.1.1	Equity and investment fund shares	1594	2363	-769
3.1.1.1	Equity other than reinvestment of earnings	1594	2066	-472
3.1.1.1.1	Direct investor in direct investment enterprises	1594	2066	-472
3.1.1.1.2	Direct investment enterprises in direct investor (reverse investment)			0
3.1.1.1.3	Between fellow enterprises			0
3.1.1.2	Reinvestment of earnings		297	-297
3.1.2	Debt instruments	0	669	-669
3.1.2.1	Direct investor in direct investment enterprises		669	-669
3.1.2.2	Direct investment enterprises in direct investor (reverse investment)			0
3.1.2.3	Between fellow enterprises			0
3.2	Portfolio Investment	56518	45204	11314
3.2A	Portfolio Invesment in India	56,343	44,804	11540
3.2.1	Equity and investment fund shares	43819	34171	9648
3.2.2	Debt securities	12525	10633	1892
3.2.B	Portfolio Invesment by India	175	400	-225
3.3	Financial derivatives (other than reserves) and employee stock options	1031	1942	-911
3.4	Other investment	65119	60937	4181
3.4.1	Other equity (ADRs/GDRs)	0	0	0
3.4.2	Currency and deposits	15423	12654	2768
3.4.2.1	Central bank (Rupee Debt Movements; NRG)	0	26	-26
3.4.2.2	Deposit-taking corporations, except the central bank (NRI Deposits)	15423	12629	2794
3.4.2.3	General government			0
3.4.2.4	Other sectors			0
3.4.3	Loans (External Assistance, ECBs and Banking Capital)	12710	14301	-1591
3.4.3A	Loans to India	12434	14063	-1629
3.4.3.1	Central bank			0
3.4.3.2	Deposit-taking corporations, except the central bank	2503	8843	-6340
3.4.3.3	General government  (External Assistance)	1402	802	600
3.4.3.4	Other sectors (External Commercial Borrowings)	8529	4417	4112
3.4.3B	Loans by India	276	238	38
3.4.3.1	Central bank			0
3.4.3.2	Deposit-taking corporations, except the central bank			0
3.4.3.3	General government.	13	84	-72
3.4.3.4	Other sectors	263	154	109
3.4.4	Insurance, pension, and standardized guarantee schemes	7	19	-12
3.4.5	Trade credit and advances	32594	28126	4468
3.4.5.1	Central bank	0	0	0
3.4.5.2	General government			0
3.4.5.3	Deposit-taking corporations			0
3.4.5.4	Other sectors	32594	28126	4468
3.4.6	Other accounts receivable/payable—other	4392	5856	-1464
3.4.7	Special drawing rights			0
3.5	Reserve assets	0	2681	-2681
3.5.1	Monetary gold			0
3.5.2	Special drawing rights n.a.			0
3.5.3	Reserve position in the IMF n.a.			0
3.5.4	Other reserve assets (Foreign Currency Assets)	0	2681	-2681
3.5.4.1	Currency,deposits and securities		2681	-2681
3.5.4.2	Financial derivatives			0
3.5.4.3	Other claims			0
3	Total assets/liabilities	133334	115708	17626
Of which: (by instrument):
3.0.1	Equity and investment fund shares	55109	40752	14357
3.0.2	Debt instruments	73833	66420	7413
3.0.3	Other financial assets and liabilities	4392	8537	-4145
4	Net errors and omissions			302
PR: Partially Revised.   P: Preliminary.