As per the standard practice, with a lag of one quarter, India's external debt statistics for the quarters ending March and June are released by the Reserve Bank of India and those for the quarters ending September and December by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The external debt data as at end-March 2015 in Rupees and US dollar terms along with revised data for the earlier quarters are set out in Statements 1 and 2, respectively. The major developments relating to India’s external debt at end-March 2015 are presented in the following paragraphs.

Highlights

India’s external debt at end-March 2015 showed an increase of US$ 29.5 billion (6.6 per cent) over end-March 2014, due to the rise in commercial borrowings and NRI deposits. Further, the increase in the magnitude of external debt was partly offset by the valuation gains resulting from the appreciation of the US dollar vis-a-vis Indian rupee and other major currencies. The external debt to GDP ratio stood at 23.8 per cent at end-March 2015, recording a marginal increase over its level of 23.6 per cent at end-March 2014.

Key points relating to India’s external debt as at end-March 2015 are set out below:

• India’s external debt at end-March 2015 was placed at US$ 475.8 billion recording an increase of US$ 29.5 billion (6.6 per cent) over its level at end-March 2014 (Table 1).

• Excluding the valuation gains due to appreciation of US dollar against the Indian rupee and other major currencies, the increase in external debt by end-March 2015 over its end-March 2014 level would have been higher at US$ 45.7 billion.

• The increase in external debt during 2014-15 was on account of commercial borrowings and non-resident deposits.

• The US dollar denominated debt continued to be the largest component of India’s external debt with a share of 58.3 per cent at end-March 2015, followed by Indian rupee (27.9 per cent), SDR (5.8 per cent), Japanese Yen (4.0 per cent) and Euro (2.4 per cent).

• Short-term debt by original maturity at US$ 84.7 billion accounted for 17.8 per cent of the total external debt as at end-March 2015 as compared with 20.5 per cent at end-March 2014. Similarly, on residual maturity basis, the ratio of short-term debt to total debt worked out to 38.9 per cent as compared with 39.6 per cent a year ago.

• The ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to foreign exchange reserves declined to 24.8 per cent as at end-March 2015 (30.1 per cent a year ago). Similarly, on residual maturity basis, the ratio of short-term debt to foreign exchange reserves worked out to 54.2 per cent at end-March 2015 (57.4 per cent at end-March 2014) (Table 2).

• Across borrower categories, the outstanding debt of both Government and non-Government sectors increased and their shares in total external debt were 18.9 per cent and 81.1 per cent, respectively, at end-March 2015 (Table 3).

• Higher debt service payments during 2014-15 relative to the preceding year, were largely on account of higher repayments of ECBs during the year (Table 4).

Sangeeta Das
Director

Press Release : 2014-2015/2787