External Debt Remains within Manageable Limits

The Economic Survey 2013-14, presented today in the Lok Sabha by the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley, has noted that India’s external debt has remained within manageable limits due to the external debt management policy, with prudential restrictions on debt varieties of capital inflows given the large interest differential. India’s external debt stock at end of March 2013 stood at US $ 404.9 billion (Rs. 2,200,410 crore), recording an increase of US$ 44.1 billion (12.2 per cent) over the previous year’s level of US $ 360.8 billion (Rs. 1,844,167 crore). External debt both at end March 2013 and end March 2012 is higher than reported earlier in various publications owing to the inclusion of securitized borrowings of banks as reported by the RBI in its external debt statistics. Component-wise, long-term debt increased by 9.1 per cent to US $ 308.2 billion at end March, 2013 from US $ 282.6 billion at end March 2012, while short-term debt refers to such debt in terms of original maturity unless otherwise stated, increased by 23.7 per cent to US $ 96.7 billion from US $ 78.2 billion at end March 2012, reflecting elevated levels of imports.