External Debt Position of the Country

External Debt Position of the Country

At end-December 2011, India’s external debt stock stood at US$ 334.9 billion recording an increase of 9.4 per cent over the level of US$ 306.1 billion at end-March 2011. The rise in external debt is largely attributed to higher commercial borrowings and short term debt.

India’s external debt has remained within manageable limits due to prudent debt management policy that emphasizes raising sovereign loans on concessional terms with longer maturities, regulating external commercial borrowings through end-use and all-in-cost restrictions, rationalizing interest rates on Non Resident Indian (NRI) deposits and monitoring long as well as short-term debt.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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