India's external debt at $513.4 bnn

Indias 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.

--IANS

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