Country's external debt rises to $243 billion

The country’s external debt stood at over US$242.8 billion at the end of September, up 8 per cent from March end, contributed mostly by overseas borrowings of companies and NRI deposits, according to official data. India’s total external debt stock that also include export credit, multilateral and bilateral debt, stood at US$224.5 billion at the time, up US$18.2 billion from March end.

The external commercial borrowings by India Inc at US$66.7 million accounted for 27.5 per cent of the country's total debt, while NRI deposits chipped in 18.9 per cent at US$45.97 million.

After the global financial crisis hit India hard from the mid-September 2008, India eased its external commercial borrowing norms that had been tightened earlier following abundant capital inflows.

The long term debt of the country increased by 10.6 per cent to US$200.4 billion as on September 2009. Long-term debt at the end of said period accounted for 82.5 per cent of total external debt of India.