Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has been compiling and releasing quarterly statistics on India’s External Debt for the quarters ending September and December every year. Now it has released statistics relating to India’s external debt at end-December 2012.

At end-December 2012, India’s total external debt stock stood at US$ 376.3 billion, reflecting an increase of US$ 30.8 billion (8.9 per cent) over the level of US$ 345.5 billion at end-March 2012. The rise in external debt during the period was due to both long-term as well as short-term components. Increase in long-term debt was mainly on account of NRI deposits and commercial borrowings, while short-term debt stood higher on account of trade related credits.

The long-term debt stood at US$ 284.4 billion at end-December 2012, recording an increase of US$ 17.1 billion (6.4 per cent) over the end-March 2012 level, while short-term debt increased by US$ 13.7 billion (17.5 per cent) to US$ 91.9 billion.

Short-term debt accounted for 24.4 per cent of India’s total external debt, while the remaining (75.6 per cent) was long-term debt. Within long-term, components such as commercial borrowings accounted for 30.0 per cent of the total external debt, followed by NRI deposits (18.0 per cent) and multilateral debt (13.7 per cent).

Government (Sovereign) external debt stood at US$ 81.7 billion, (21.7 per cent of total external debt) at end-December 2012 as against US$ 81.9 billion (23.7 per cent) at end-March 2012.

The share of US dollar denominated debt was the highest in external debt stock and stood at 56.8 per cent at end-December 2012, followed by debt denominated in terms of the Indian rupee (23.1 per cent), SDR (7.9 per cent), Japanese yen (7.6 per cent) and euro (3.2 per cent).

India’s external debt to GDP ratio stood at 20.6 per cent at end-December 2012 vis-à-vis 19.7 per cent at end-March 2012.

The complete quarterly report of India’s external debt at end-December 2012 is available on the website of Ministry of Finance i.e. www.finmin.nic.in

DS

(Release ID :94331)

External debt rise reflects higher long and short term obligations, with currency concentration and rising debt to GDP implications. India's external debt at end December 2012 was US$ 376.3 billion, up 8.9% over end March 2012, with long term debt at US$ 284.4 billion (driven by NRI deposits and commercial borrowings) and short term debt at US$ 91.9 billion (driven by trade credits); short term debt comprised 24.4% of total, sovereign debt was US$ 81.7 billion (21.7% of total), the US dollar accounted for 56.8% of debt, and the external debt to GDP ratio rose to 20.6%.