External debt rises in December to $426 bn

India’s external debt to GDP ratio stood at 23.3 per cent in end-December 2013 compared to 21.8 per cent in end-March 2013.

As per data released by Ministry of Finance, India's external debt increased to $426 billion in end-December 2013, recording an increase of $21.1 billion. This implies an increase of 5.2 per cent over the level at end-March 2013.

India's external debt to GDP ratio stood at 23.3 per cent at end-December 2013 compared to 21.8 per cent at end-March 2013.

The rise in external debt during the period was due to long-term debt particularly NRI deposits. A sharp increase in NRI deposits reflected the impact of fresh FCNR(B) deposits mobilized under the swap scheme during September-November 2013.

Long-term debt stood at $333.3 billion at end-December 2013, showing an increase of 8.1 per cent over the end-March 2013 level, while short-term debt declined by 4.1 per cent to $92.7 billion.

Short-term debt accounted for 21.8 per cent of India's total external debt, while the remaining 78.2 per cent was long-term debt. Component-wise, commercial borrowings accounted for 31 per cent of total external debt, followed by NRI deposits 23.2 per cent and multilateral debt at 12.3 per cent.

Government (sovereign) external debt stood at $76.4 billion, (17.9 per cent of total external debt) at end-December 2013 as against $81.7 billion (20.2 per cent) at end-March 2013.

The share of US dollar denominated debt was the highest in external debt stock and stood at 63.6 per cent at end-December 2013, followed by debt denominated in Indian rupee (19.4 per cent), SDR (7.1 per cent), Japanese yen (5.0 per cent) and Euro (3.1 per cent).