India’s external debt at the end of March 2016 stood at $485.6 billion, up 2.2 per cent from over its level at over end-March 2015, largely driven by the increase in long-term external debt, particularly NRI deposits, the Centre government said announced on Monday.
Long-term debt“At end-March 2016, long-term external debt was $402.2 billion, showing an increase of 3.3 per cent over the level of 2015 (end-March),” according to a government report. “Long-term external debt accounted for 82.8 per cent of total external debt at end-March 2016 as compared to 82.0 per cent at end-March 2015.”
In contrast, short-term external debt declined by 2.5 per cent from $84.7 billion at end-March 2015 to $83.4 billion at end-March 2016.
“This was mainly due to the decline in trade related credits,” the report added. “The share of short-term external debt in total external debt declined from 18.0 per cent at end-March 2015 to 17.2 per cent at end-March 2016.”
Of total external debt, the government’s share stood at 18.9 per cent or $93.4 billion at end-March 2016 compared to 18.8 per cent ($89.7 billion) at March 2015. “India’s external debt has remained within manageable limits in 2015-16 as indicated by the increase in foreign exchange reserves to debt ratio to 74.2 per cent, the external debt-GDP ratio of 23.7 per cent and fall in short term debt to 17.2 per cent,” the report said.
