External Debt
External debt (also called foreign debt) is the total debt which the residents of a country owe to foreign creditors. The debtors can be the government, corporations or citizens of that country. The debt includes money owed to private commercial banks, foreign governments, or international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
India classifies external debt under the 8 heads - Multilateral, Bilateral, Trade credit, Commercial borrowings, IMF loans, NRI and PIO deposits, Rupee debt, NPR debt
External debt (also called foreign debt) is the total debt which the residents of a country owe to foreign creditors. The debtors can be the government, corporations or citizens of that country. The debt includes money owed to private commercial banks, foreign governments, or international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.
India classifies external debt under the 8 heads - Multilateral, Bilateral, Trade credit, Commercial borrowings, IMF loans, NRI and PIO deposits, Rupee debt, NPR debt
SUBJECT Variables
TOTAL EXTERNAL DEBT
- India’s total external debt as on 31 Mar'25 rose by 10.1% year-on-year to touch a record high of USD 736.3 billion.
- In rupee terms, India's external debt as of 31 Mar'25 stood at 6,304K crore.
- Sovereign (government) debt, comprising 22.9% of India's total external debt, increased by 13.3% to USD 168.4 billion, as of Mar'25. This was mainly because of increased foreign portfolio investment (FPI) in government securities.
- Non-sovereign (non-government) debt, comprising 77.1% of India's total external debt, increased by 9.2% to USD 567.9 billion, as of Mar'24. Commercial borrowings, NRI deposits and short-term trade credit are the three biggest constituents of non-sovereign debt, accounting for 80% of total non-sovereign debt.
- The US dollar continues to be the predominant currency for India's external debt comprising 54.2% of the total external debt as of Mar'25.
- The US dollar appreciated vis-à-vis the Indian rupee as of end-March 2025 over the level a year ago. As a result, the impact due to the appreciation of the US dollar was USD 5.3 billion. Excluding the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by USD 72.9 billion instead of USD 67.5 billion at end-March 2025 over end-March 2024.
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