India's total external debt rose marginally to $480.2 billion at the end of December 2015, up $4.9 billion, or almost 1 percent, compared to that of $475.8 billion as of March 31, 2015, largely driven by private commercial borrowings and non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits, finance ministry said in its external debt report. However, it marked a decline from $483.2 billion at the end of September 2015.
However, year-on-year, the debt grew 4.7 per cent. Long-term external debt increased 2.2 per cent or $8.8 billion; short-term debt fell 4.6 per cent or $3.9 billion. Government (sovereign) external debt stood at $90.7 billion at December end 2015 while non-government debt amounted to $389.5 billion. The report said India's external debt has remained within manageable limits as indicated by external debt indicators. Further it said that the prudent external debt management policy of government of India has helped in containing rise in external debt and maintaining a comfortable external debt position.
Component-wise, the commercial borrowings at the end December 2015 stood at $183.6 billion a rise of 1.5 per cent. NRI deposits at $122.6 billion rose 6.5 per cent over end-March. Commercial borrowings and NRI deposits together accounted for 63.8 per cent of total external debt (long-term and short-term) at end-December. Commercial borrowings accounted for 38.2 percent of the total external debt, followed by NRI deposits at 25.5 percent and multilateral debt of 11.1 percent.
The report said that the 'policy continues to focus' on monitoring long- and short-term debt, raising sovereign loans on concessional terms with longer maturities, regulating ECBs, and rationalising interest rates on Non-Resident Indian deposits.
For valuation effect, the report said the US dollar appreciated against Indian rupee and other most major currencies between March 2015 and December 2015. Excluding the valuation effect, the external debt would have been higher at $488.1 billion at December end 2015.
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