The cover provided to India’s total external debt stock by foreign exchange reserves dropped from 73 per cent at end-March to 69.3 per cent at end-September. The total external debt stock stood at $400.3 billion at end-September, or $9 million less than that at end-March, as per official data released on Tuesday.
Of the total, 19.3 per cent or $77.3 billion was sovereign external debt. It has come down from $81.7 billion at end-March. Component-wise, the share of commercial borrowings stood highest at 32.3 per cent of total external debt, followed by non-resident Indians deposits (18.8 per cent) and multilateral debt (13.1 per cent), a release from the Finance Ministry said.
The long-term debt was 76.3 per cent or $305.5 billion and the balance short-term. The share of dollar-denominated debt continued to be the highest in the external debt stock at 60.7 per cent, followed by the rupee (20.9 per cent) and other currencies.
The ratio of concessional debt to total external debt was 11.5 per cent at end-September 2013 as compared to 11.4 per cent at end-March 2013.
The rupee’s depreciation against the dollar resulted in a change of $10.9 billion in the valuation of the debt stock, and thus causing the decline, the Finance Ministry’s external debt report says. “Excluding the valuation effect, the external debt would have been higher at $411.2 billion.”
PTI reports
“The prudent external debt management policy of the Government of India has helped in containing rise in external debt and maintaining a comfortable external debt position,” the Finance Ministry said.