India's external debt at $682 billion as of end June

India's external debt rose to $ 682.3 billion as of June 2024, up 2 percent over March 2024 and 8.5 percent over June 2023, data released by the Reserve Bank showed.

But external debt to GDP ratio was lower at 18.8 per cent at end-June 2024 as compared with 18.9 per cent at end-March 2024.

Valuation effect due to the appreciation of the US dollar vis-à-vis the Indian rupee and other major currencies such as yen, the euro and SDR2 amounted to $ 3.0 billion during the quarter ended June 2024. Excluding the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by $ 16.3 billion instead of $ 13.3 billion at end-June 2024 over end-March 2024.


Debt servicing - principal repayments and interest payments- stood at 6.6 percent of current receipts at end-June 2024 as compared with 6.7 per cent at end-March 2024.

At end-June 2024, long-term debt -with original maturity of above one year- amounted to $ 549.6 billion, up 1.5 percent or $ 8.2 billion over its level at end-March 2024.

The share of short-term debt-with original maturity of up to one year- in total external debt increased to 19.4 per cent at end-June 2024 from 19.1 per cent at end-March 2024. The ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to foreign exchange reserves increased to 20.3 per cent at end-June 2024 from 19.7 per cent at end-March 2024.

US dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India’s external debt, with a share of 54.6 per cent at end-June 2024, followed by debt denominated in the Indian rupee (31.2 per cent), yen (5.4 per cent), SDR (5.1 per cent), and euro (2.9 per cent).