India’s external debt rose 3.5% to $461.9 billion as of December-end 2014 from the level of end-March 2014, the government said in a release on Tuesday.
The country’s external debt-to-GDP ratio marginally improved to 23.2% at end-December 2014 from 23.7% in end-March 2014. The increase in external debt during the period was due to a rise in long-term debt such as commercial borrowings and NRI deposits while short term external debt registered a decline, according to the government statement.
Long-term debt, which account for 81.5% of the total external debt, rose 6.1% to 376.4 billion during the period while short-term external debt declined by 6.7% to $85.6 billion.
The share of the government (sovereign) and non-government debt in the total external debt stood at 19.5% and 80.5% respectively at December-end 2014.
