Share Of Short-Term External Debt Rises

The share of short-term debt in India’s external debt continues to inch higher, shows data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Friday.

India’s external debt rose to $471.9 billion as of March 2017, a decline of $13.1 billion compared to March 2016. Of this, the share of commercial debt stood at 36.7 percent while non-resident deposits accounted for 24.8 percent.

Short-term debt constituted 18.6 percent of the total external debt as of March 2017 compared to 17.2 percent in March 2016. The ratio of short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves increased to 23.8 percent as of March 2017 compared to 23.1 percent as of March 2016.

India external debt-to-GDP ratio stood at a comfortable 20.2 percent as of March 2017 compared to 23.5 percent a year ago.

U.S. dollar denominated debt continued to be the largest component of India’s external debt with a share of 52.1 percent as at end-March 2017. Indian rupee denominated external debt stood at 33.6 percent.