India’s external debt hit 111 per cent of forex reserves in 2008

Total external debt of the country stood at 110.9 per cent of its foreign exchange reserves as of end-December 2008. India's total external debt stock rose $6.2 billion (or 2.8 per cent) to $230.85 billion as of end-December 2008 as against $224.65 billion at end-September 2008.

Long-term debt, at $183.37 billion, recorded an increase of $9.4 billion during the quarter ended December 2008, and accounted for 79.4 per cent of total external debt. Short-term debt, which had increased in the first two quarters of 2008-09, declined by $3.2 billion during the quarter ended December 2008 to $47.48 billion, with a share of 20.6 per cent in total external debt.

In terms of components of long-term external debt, commercial borrowings increased by $4.6 billion to $66.16 billion as of end-December 2008 with its share in total external debt increasing to 28.7 per cent (27.4 per cent at end-September 2008). Bilateral debt outstanding at $21.43 billion posted an increase of $2.6 billion, while multilateral debt was up $0.98 billion at $39.9 billion as of end-December 2008.

Export credit outstanding also increased from $12.32 billion as of end-September 2008 to $13.94 billion at end-December 2008. Over the quarter, NRI deposits recorded a decline of $0.33 billion and rupee debt was lower by $55 million.

Government (sovereign) external debt stood at $57.4 billion as of end-December 2008 while non-government debt amounted to $173.5 billion. The share of non-government debt to total external debt stood at 75.2 per cent as of end-December 2008.

In terms of currency composition of external debt, the share of US dollar denominated debt was the highest at 53.1 per cent, followed by Japanese yen (15.9 per cent), Indian rupee (15.8 per cent), SDR (9.3 per cent), euro (3.8 per cent) and pound sterling (1.8 per cent).

The ratio of foreign exchange reserves to total external debt as at end December 2008 stood at 110.9 per cent.