Washington (Agencies): The US has added India to its watch list of countries with potentially questionable foreign exchange policies.
India is the sixth addition to the watch list which comprises China, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Switzerland.
Treasury said the “monitoring list” includes those “major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices.
“We will continue to monitor and combat unfair currency practices, while encouraging policies and reforms to address large trade imbalances,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
The Treasury report is required by Congress to identify countries that are trying to artificially manage the value of their currency to gain a trade advantage, for example by keeping the exchange rate low to promote cheaper exports.
The report said India, which has a $23bn trade surplus with the US, “increased its purchases of foreign exchange over the first three quarters of 2017,” although the rupee still rose in value.