India's external debt goes down & forex kitty goes up
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, SEPT 17, 2017: INDIA has taken its forex kitty to beyond USD 400 bn. It has also reduced its debt stock by USD 13.1 bn. The external debt now stands at USD 472 bn by March-end, 2017. The decline in external debt was due to the decrease in long-term debt particularly NRI deposits and commercial borrowings.
At end-March 2017, long-term external debt was US$ 383.9 billion, showing a decrease of 4.4 per cent over the level at end-March 2016. Long-term external debt accounted for 81.4 per cent of total external debt at end-March 2017 as compared to 82.8 per cent at end-March 2016.
Short-term external debt increased by 5.5 per cent to US$ 88.0 billion at end-March 2017. This is mainly due to the increase in trade related credits, a major component of short-term debt with a share of 98.3 per cent.
Government (sovereign) external debt increased from USD 93.4 billion at end-March 2016 to US$ 95.8 billion at end-March 2017, and constituted 20.3 per cent of the total external debt, as compared to 19.3 per cent in the previous year.
India’s external debt has remained within manageable limits and the external debt situation has improved in 2016-17 over 2015-16 as indicated by the increase in foreign exchange reserves cover to debt to 78.4 per cent from 74.3 per cent, and fall in the external debt-GDP ratio to 20.2 per cent from 23.5 per cent. 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:
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