India’s external debt up $15.5 bn in April-December 2014
31 Mar 2015
India's external debt stood at $461.9 billion at the end of December 2014, showing an increase of $15.5 billion (or 3.5 per cent) over the nine months starting end-March 2014 even as the external debt to GDP ratio stood at 23.2-per cent at end-December 2014, down from 23.7 per cent at end-March 2014.
The rise in external debt during the period was due to an increase in long-term debt such as commercial borrowings and NRI deposits. Short-term external debt, however, witnessed a decline during the period, official data released today showed.
India's long-term debt stood at $ 376.4 billion at end-December 2014, showing an increase of 6.1 per cent over the end-March 2014 level. Long-term debt accounted for 81.5 per cent of total external debt at end-December 2014 vis-à-vis 79.5 per cent at end-March 2014.
Short-term external debt stood at $85.6 billion at end-December 2014, showing a decline of 6.7 per cent over the level at end-March 2014. Short-term debt accounted for 18.5 per cent of total external debt at end-December 2014 against 20.5 per cent at end-March 2014.
The share of government (sovereign) debt in the total external debt stood at 19.5 per cent while non-government debt accounted for 80.5 per cent of total external debt at end-December 2014.
US dollar-denominated debt had the highest share in India's external debt stock at 58.7 per cent as of end-December 2014, followed by debt denominated in rupee (26.4 per cent), SDR (6.3 per cent), Japanese yen (4.1 per cent) and euro (2.9 per cent).
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