India Now on the US Treasury's List of Nations with Questionable Forex Policies

The United States Treasury issued a report on Friday that includes the list of countries which potentially have questionable foreign exchange policies. India joins China and four other countries on this list.

The "monitoring list" is said to have "major trade partners that merit close attention to their currency practices" according to the Treasury. This is a semi-annual report that is required to be presented to the Congress so that it can identify countries who are trying to manipulate the value of their currency to get a trade advantage, like keeping a low exchange rate to promote exports.

The countries remain on the list for two cycles of the report. India was listed with countries like China, Japan, Germany and Switzerland, that were named in the October report too.

The list is based on criteria set by the Treasury, which none of its major trade partners have fulfilled. Five countries on the list, however, meet two out of the three criteria.

China was added because "it constitutes a disproportionate share of the overall US trade deficit," as per the report. The US has a $337 billion trade deficit out of the total $566 billion globally, according to the government's data.

India it says, "increased its purchases of foreign exchange over the first three quarters of 2017," while the rupee value was still on the rise. India has a $23 billion trade surplus with the US.

In a statement, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, "We will continue to monitor and combat unfair currency practices while encouraging policies and reforms to address large trade imbalances."