External debt rises 5.8% in April-September to $365.3 billion

NEW DELHI: India's external debt increased by 5.8% in April-September to $365.3 billion due to increase in non-resident deposits, short-term debt and commercial borrowings by companies.

The long-term debt was $ 280.8 billion at end-September, an increase of 5.1% over the end-March 2012 level, while short-term debt increased by 8.1% to $ 84.5 billion, according to data by the finance ministry.

Short-term debt accounted for 23.1% of the country's total external debt, while the remaining 76.9% was long-term debt. Component-wise, the share of commercial borrowings stood highest at 29.8%, followed by NRI deposits at 18.3% and multilateral debt at 13.9.