The stock of external debt at end-March 2023 as well as revised data for earlier quarters are set out in Statements I (IMF format¹) and II (old format). The major developments relating to India’s external debt as at end-March 2023 are presented below.

Highlights

• At end-March 2023, India’s external debt was placed at US$ 624.7 billion, recording an increase of US$ 5.6 billion over its level at end-March 2022 (Table 1).

• The external debt to GDP ratio declined to 18.9 per cent at end-March 2023 from 20.0 per cent at end-March 2022.

• Valuation gains due to the appreciation of the US dollar vis-à-vis the Indian rupee and major currencies such as yen, SDR², and euro were placed at US$ 20.6 billion. Excluding the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by US$ 26.2 billion instead of US$ 5.6 billion at end-March 2023 over end-March 2022.

• At end-March 2023, long-term debt (with original maturity of above one year) was placed at US$ 496.3 billion, recording a decline of US$ 1.1 billion over its level at end-March 2022.

• The share of short-term debt (with original maturity of up to one year) in total external debt increased to 20.6 per cent at end-March 2023 from 19.7 per cent at end-March 2022. Similarly, the ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to foreign exchange reserves increased to 22.2 per cent at end-March 2023 (20.0 per cent at end-March 2022).

• Short-term debt on residual maturity basis (i.e., debt obligations that include long-term debt by original maturity falling due over the next twelve months and short-term debt by original maturity) constituted 43.9 per cent of total external debt at end-March 2023 (43.2 per cent at end-March 2022) and stood at 47.4 per cent of foreign exchange reserves (44.0 per cent at end-March 2022) (Table 2).

• US dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India’s external debt, with a share of 54.6 per cent at end-March 2023, followed by debt denominated in the Indian rupee (29.8 per cent), SDR (6.1 per cent), yen (5.7 per cent), and the euro (3.2 per cent).

• Outstanding debt of both government and non-government sectors increased during 2022-23 (Table 3).

• The share of outstanding debt of non-financial corporations in total external debt was the highest at 38.9 per cent, followed by deposit-taking corporations (except the central bank) (25.7 per cent), general government (21.3 per cent) and other financial corporations (9.3 per cent).

• Loans remained the largest component of external debt, with a share of 32.5 per cent, followed by currency and deposits (22.6 per cent), trade credit and advances (19.9 per cent) and debt securities (16.7 per cent) (Table 4).

• Debt service (i.e., principal repayments and interest payments) increased marginally to 5.3 per cent of current receipts at end-March 2023 as compared with 5.2 per cent at end-March 2022, reflecting higher debt service (Table 5).

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2023-2024/509

¹ The concepts set out in the IMF’s 2013 External Debt Statistics (EDS) Guide are harmonized with those of the System of National Accounts (SNA) 2008 and the sixth edition of the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) published in 2009.

² SDR: Special Drawing Rights.