The
Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance is bringing out the twentieth
issue of the annual publication ‘India’s External Debt: A Status Report 2013-14’.
The Report presents a detailed analysis of India’s external debt position at
end-March 2014, based on the data released by the Reserve Bank of India on June
30, 2014. Apart from analysing trend, composition and debt service of India’s
external debt, the Report provides a comparative picture of India’s external
debt vis-a-vis other developing countries.
The
salient features of the Report are:
·
India’s
external debt stock stood at US$ 440.6 billion at end-March 2014, increasing by
US$ 31.2 billion (7.6 per cent) over the level at end-March 2013. The rise in
external debt was due to long-term debt particularly NRI deposits. The surge in
NRI deposits reflected the impact of fresh FCNR(B) deposits mobilised under the
swap scheme during September-November 2013 to tide over the difficult BoP
situation in the initial parts of the year.
·
At
end-March 2014, long-term external debt was US$ 351.4 billion, showing an
increase of 12.4 per cent over the level at end-March 2013. At this level,
long-term external debt accounted for 79.7 per cent of total external debt at
end-March 2014 vis-à-vis 76.4 per cent at end-March 2013.
·
Short-term
external debt stood at US$ 89.2 billion at end-March 2014, showing a decline of
7.7 per cent over US$ 96.7 billion at the end-March 2013. This owed to the
compression in import arising from the slowdown in aggregate demand and
restrictions on gold imports. Thus, the share of short-term external debt in
total external debt declined from 23.6 per cent at end-March 2013 to 20.3 per
cent at end-March 2014.
·
Government
(sovereign) external debt stood at US$ 81.5 billion at end-March 2014 vis-a-vis
US$ 81.7 billion at end-March 2013. The share of Government external debt in
total external debt was lower at 18.5 per cent at end-March 2014 as compared to
19.9 per cent at end-March 2013.
·
India’s
external debt has remained within manageable limits as indicated by the
external debt-GDP ratio of 23.3 per cent and debt service ratio of 5.9 per cent
during 2013-14. External debt of the country continues to be dominated by the
long-term borrowings. India’s external debt position in recent years is given
below:
|
Table
1.1: India’s Key External Debt Indicators
(Per
cent)
|
|
At
end March
|
External Debt (US$ billion)
|
External Debt to GDP
|
Debt Service Ratio
|
Foreign Exchange Reserves to Total Debt
|
Concessional Debt to Total Debt
|
Short-Term to Foreign Exchange Reserves
|
Short- Term to Total Debt
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
|
2011-12
|
360.8
|
20.5
|
6.0
|
81.6
|
13.3
|
26.6
|
21.7
|
|
2012-13 PR
|
409.4
|
22.0
|
5.9
|
71.3
|
11.1
|
33.1
|
23.6
|
|
2013-14 QE
|
440.6
|
23.3
|
5.9
|
69.0
|
10.5
|
29.3
|
20.3
|
|
PR: Partially Revised; QE: Quick Estimates.
|
A cross country comparison based
on “International Debt Statistics 2014” of the World Bank which presents the
debt data for 2012, shows that India continues to be among the less
vulnerable countries with its external debt indicators comparing well with
other indebted developing countries. India’s key debt indicators, especially
debt to GNI and debt service ratios continue to be comfortable.
The complete ‘India’s External Debt: A
Status Report 2013-14’ is available at the website of the Ministry of Finance –www.finmin.nic.in.
*****
DSM/KA