India's external debt rises 8 per cent to $242.8 billion

India's debt to other nations stood at over $242.8 billion at the end of September this year, which was up 8 per cent from end-March 2009.

This mainly comprised overseas borrowings of companies and NRI deposits, according to official data.

India's total external debt stock, including export credit, multilateral and bilateral debt, stood $224.5 billion at the time, up $18.2 billion from March end.

At $66.7 million, the external commercial borrowings of Indian companies accounted for 27.5 per cent of the country's total debt while NRI deposits comprised 18.9 per cent totalling $45.97 million.

India's external commercial borrowing norms were considerably relaxed with the global financial crisis hitting the economy hard from mid-September 2008. Earlier, the norms had been tightened on abundant capital inflows into the economy.

The country's long-term debt rose 10.6 per cent to $ 200.4 billion as of September 2009 and accounted for 82.5 per cent of its total external debt.