INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - APRIL 1st - APRIL 15th - 2008
INDIA’S EXTERNAL DEBT RISES TO $201.4 B
India’s external debt rose to $201.4 billion due to corporate borrowings. Surging overseas borrowings by corporate houses and currency fluctuations led to a 5.4% rise in India’s external debt to $201.4 billion or Rs 7,94,017 crore at the end of December 2007.
The increase in debt in the October-December quarter accounts for $10.3 billion. In the nine months from April to December, the increase is $31.8 billion from $169.7 billion at end-March 2007. The per capita debt of the population now stands at Rs 7,218.
External commercial borrowings (ECBs) went up by 9.4% in the third quarter, slightly higher than in the second quarter but significantly lower than the 15% in the first half of the 2007-08 fiscal. According to an official statement, currency fluctuation led to rise of $6 billion in external during April-December 2007. Long-term debt rose by $6.3 billion to $166.2 billion while short-term debt increased by $4 billion to $35.2 billion over the third quarter.
Amongst the components of longterm debt, which accounted for 82.6% of the total debt, commercial borrowings increased by $4.9 billion (9.4%) to $57 billion during the nine months. The share of government debt in total external debt stood at 26.3% or $53 billion while private debt was 73.7% or $148.5 billion.
The share of US dollar in the external debt portfolio continued to show an increasing trend going up to 54.5% at December end 2007 from 52% at March end 2007. While NRI deposits declined by 1.5% to $43 billion, multilateral debt, bilateral debt and export credit increased marginally to $37.9 billion, $17.3 billion and $8.9 billion, respectively, at December end 2007.
Rupee debt continued to remain around $2 billion. Under short-term debt, trade-related credits rose by around $4 billion while FII debt investment in government papers rose by $262 million over the quarter, the statement said.
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