Washington, Oct 17 (IANS) China’s holdings of US Treasury securities fell sharply in August while India’s rose for a third straight month, according to US Treasury data released.
China’s holdings dropped to $590.7 billion at the end of August from $618 billion in July. A year earlier, in August 2025, China held $699.7 billion, meaning its holdings have shrunk by about $109 billion in 12 months, said Treasury International Capital (TIC) in its latest report.
India’s holdings rose to $219.7 billion in August from $202.6 billion in July, a gain of about $17 billion in a single month. India’s holdings had fallen to a low of $181 billion in April and have climbed steadily since, to $181.3 billion in May, $186.4 billion in June and $202.6 billion in July. They are now back to roughly where they stood a year earlier, when India held $219.4 billion.
The gap between the two Asian economies’ holdings has narrowed to about $371 billion, from about $480 billion a year ago.
India ranks 14th among the largest foreign holders of US Treasuries in Treasury’s table of major foreign holders, behind Hong Kong at $261.5 billion and just ahead of Norway at $214 billion.
Japan remained the largest foreign holder at $1,068.3 billion, though its holdings fell from $1,103.9 billion in July. The United Kingdom was second at $1,009.5 billion, up from $998.3 billion. China, Mainland, was third, followed by Belgium at $490.5 billion, Canada at $464.6 billion, the Cayman Islands at $463 billion and Luxembourg at $448.2 billion.
Overall, the Treasury said there was “a net TIC inflow of $199.8 billion” in August. “Foreign residents increased their holdings of long-term U.S. securities in August; their net purchases were $300.7 billion,” it said. At the same time, “Foreign residents decreased their holdings of U.S. Treasury bills by $47.8 billion.”
The Treasury cautioned that the country figures may not reflect true ownership. “The data in this table are collected primarily from U.S.-based custodians and broker-dealers. Since U.S. securities held in overseas custody accounts may not be attributed to the actual owners, the data may not provide a precise accounting of individual country ownership of Treasury securities,” it said in notes to the table.
The next TIC release, covering September, is scheduled for November 18, the Treasury said.
–IANS
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