India's external debt at USD 571.3 bn at June-end, up USD 1.6 bn from March: RBI

The Reserve Bank further said the US dollar denominated debt remained the largest component of Indias external debt, with a share of 52.4 per cent at end-June, followed by the Indian rupee 33.2 per cent, yen 5.8 per cent, SDR 4.4 per cent and the euro 3.4 per cent.

India's external debt stood at USD 571.3 billion at the end-June, recording an increase of USD 1.6 billion over its level at the end of March 2021, the RBI said on Thursday. However, the external debt to GDP ratio declined to 20.2 percent at June-end 2021 from 21.1 percent as of March 31. Valuation gain due to the appreciation of the US dollar vis-a-vis the Indian rupee was at USD 1.7 billion. ''Excluding the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by US$ 3.3 billion instead of US$ 1.6 billion at end-June 2021 over end-March 2021,'' the central bank said. As per the data, commercial borrowings remained the largest component of external debt, with a share of 37.4 percent, followed by non-resident deposits (24.8 percent) and short-term trade credit (17.4 percent). As of June 30, long-term debt (with an original maturity of above one year) stood at USD 468.8 billion, recording an increase of USD 0.2 billion over its level at March-end, the central bank said. The share of short-term debt in total external debt rose marginally to 17.9 percent as of June 30 from 17.7 percent at end-March. However, the ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to foreign exchange reserves declined to 16.8 percent from 17.5 percent at the end-March 2021. The Reserve Bank further said the US dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India's external debt, with a share of 52.4 percent at end-June, followed by the Indian rupee (33.2 percent), yen (5.8 percent), SDR (4.4 percent), and the euro (3.4 percent). The instrument-wise classification shows that loans were the largest component of external debt, with a share of 34.7 percent, followed by currency and deposits, trade credit and advances, and debt securities. Further, the borrower-wise classification shows that the outstanding debt of the government decreased while the non-government sector's debt increased at the end-June 2021. The RBI also said debt service (principal repayments plus interest payments) almost halved to 4.1 percent of current receipts at end-June 2021, compared to 8.2 percent at end-March 2021, reflecting lower repayment and higher current receipts. In a separate statement, RBI said net claims of non-residents in India declined to USD 327 billion in June 2021. The net claims of non-residents in India declined by USD 24.3 billion during the April-June quarter of 2021-22.