India's external debt rises $5.6 bn to $624.7 bn at end-March 2023

India's external debt rose marginally to USD 624.7 billion annually at end-March 2023, although the debt-GDP ratio declined, as per a Reserve Bank data released on Friday.

The external debt rose by USD 5.6 billion from USD 619.1 billion at end-March 2022.

"The external debt to GDP ratio declined to 18.9 per cent at end-March 2023 from 20 per cent at end-March 2022," said the Reserve Bank's data on India's External Debt as at end-March 2023.

Valuation gains due to the appreciation of the US dollar compared to the Indian rupee and major currencies such as yen, SDR, and euro were placed at USD 20.6 billion.

"Excluding the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by USD 26.2 billion instead of USD 5.6 billion at end-March 2023 over end-March 2022," the central bank added.

At end-March 2023, as per the data, long-term debt (with original maturity of above one year) was placed at USD 496.3 billion, recording a decline of USD 1.1 billion over its level at end-March 2022.

The share of short-term debt (with original maturity of up to one year) in total external debt increased to 20.6 per cent at end-March 2023 from 19.7 per cent at end-March 2022.

Similarly, the ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to foreign exchange reserves increased to 22.2 per cent at end-March 2023 (20 per cent at end-March 2022).

RBI also said US dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India's external debt, with a share of 54.6 per cent at end-March 2023, followed by debt denominated in the Indian rupee (29.8 per cent), SDR (6.1 per cent), yen (5.7 per cent), and the euro (3.2 per cent).

Loans remained the largest component of external debt, with a share of 32.5 per cent, followed by currency and deposits (22.6 per cent), trade credit and advances (19.9 per cent) and debt securities.

As per the central bank, debt service (principal repayments and interest payments) increased marginally to 5.3 per cent of current receipts at end-March 2023 as compared with 5.2 per cent at end-March 2022, reflecting higher debt service.