Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance has been compiling and releasing quarterly statistics on India’s External Debt for the quarters ending September and December every year. This statement relates to India’s external debt at end-September 2013.

At end-September 2013, India’s total external debt stock stood at US$ 400.3 billion, recording a decline of US$ 9 million over the level at end-March 2013.

Long-term debt was US$ 305.5 billion at end-September 2013, showing an increase of 0.6 per cent over the end-March 2013 level, while short-term debt declined by 2.0 per cent to US$ 94.8 billion.

Short-term debt accounted for 23.7 per cent of India’s total external debt, while the remaining (76.3 per cent) was long-term debt. Component-wise, the share of commercial borrowings stood highest at 32.3 per cent of total external debt, followed by NRI deposits (18.8 per cent) and multilateral debt (13.1 per cent).

Government (Sovereign) external debt stood at US$ 77.3 billion, (19.3 per cent of total external debt) at end-September 2013 vis-a-vis US$ 81.7 billion (20.4 per cent) at end-March 2013.

The share of US dollar denominated debt continued to be the highest in external debt stock at 60.7 per cent at end-September 2013, followed by the Indian rupee (20.9 per cent), SDR (7.6 per cent), Japanese yen (5.7 per cent), and euro (3.2 per cent).

The ratio of concessional debt to total external debt was 11.5 per cent at end-September 2013 as compared to 11.4 per cent at end-March 2013.

India’s foreign exchange reserves provided a cover of 69.3 per cent to the total external debt stock at end-September 2013 vis-à-vis 73.0 per cent at end-March 2013.  

The ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves increased to 34.2 per cent at end-September 2013 from 33.1 per cent at end-March 2013.

The complete quarterly report of India’s external debt at end-September 2013 is available on the website of Ministry of Finance – http://www.finmin.nic.in

External debt composition shows long-term debt predominance and declining reserve coverage, implying tighter short-term debt vulnerability. India's end-September 2013 external debt showed a broadly stable total with a rise in long-term debt and a decline in short-term debt; short-term debt comprised about one-quarter of total. Commercial borrowings, NRI deposits and multilateral debt were principal components; sovereign external debt was about one-fifth. Dollar-denominated liabilities were predominant; concessional debt was just over one-tenth. Reserve coverage of external debt fell between end-March and end-September 2013, while the short-term debt to reserves ratio increased, signaling heightened short-term exposure.