India's external debt at $513.4 bn after rising by 8.8 per cent

India's external debt stood at $513.4 billion at the end of December, recording an increase of 8.8 per cent or $41.6 billion over the level at March-end, the government said on Wednesday. The rise during the period was primarily due to the increase in commercial borrowings, NRI deposits and short-term debt, it said. Finance Ministry`s Economic Affairs Department has been compiling and releasing quarterly statistics on India`s external debt for the quarters ending September and December every year.

According to the government, the maturity pattern of the debt indicated dominance of long-term borrowings. "At end-December 2017, long-term external debt accounted for 81 per cent of India`s total external debt, while the remaining (19 per cent) was short-term external debt," it said.

"The shares of government (sovereign) and non-government debt in the total external debt were 21.2 per cent and 78.8 per cent respectively at end-December with the former`s share increasing from 19.4 per cent at end-March," it added.