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Informist, Monday, Jun. 29, 2026

 

--RBI: India external debt at $762.8 bln as on Mar 31 

--RBI: India external debt at $762.8 bln as on Mar 31, up 3.6% YoY

 

NEW DELHI – India's external debt was $762.8 billion as on Mar. 31, rising to 20.8% of the country's GDP at the end of the financial year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar). On an annual basis, the external debt grew $26.3 billion, or 3.6% on year, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India Monday.

 

Provisional data for December-end showed the external debt was higher at $765.53 billion on an absolute basis but was at 20.4% of GDP. At the end of March 2025, India's external debt was 19.8% of GDP.

 

The growth in external debt was muted because of appreciation of the dollar against the rupee, the RBI said. The domestic unit weakened nearly 11% against the greenback in FY26 to 94.83 per dollar as of March-end. Without the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by $51.0 billion on year rather than only $26.3 billion, the central bank said.

 

Long-term debt, or debt with an original maturity of over one year, made up most of India's external debt. At the end of March, long-term external debt was $613.5 billion, up 1.9% on year. The share of short-term debt in the total debt fell marginally to 19.6% as on Mar. 31 from 19.7% at the end of December. However, the share was up from 18.3% as of Mar. 31, 2025.

 

Short-term debt on a residual maturity basis, which refers to overall debt due for maturity over the next 12 months, constituted 42.9% of the total external debt at the end of March, slightly lower on quarter. Short-term debt was 47.3% of foreign exchange reserves as on Mar. 31, lower than 48.1% at the end of December. The share rose around 2 percentage points on a year-on-year basis as of the end of March.

 

"US dollar-denominated debt remained the largest component of India's external debt, with a share of 55.5% at end-March 2026, followed by debt denominated in the Indian rupee (29.4%), yen (6.4%), SDR2 (4.3%), and euro (3.7%)," the RBI said in its release.

 

The general government's external debt shrank 0.6% on year to $167.5 billion as on Mar. 31. The outstanding debt from non-government sources rose 7.6% on year to $355.9 billion at March-end, not counting inter-company lending. Loans made up over a third of the external debt, followed by currency and deposits at 22.3%, trade credit and advances at 19.0%, and debt securities at 16.1%.

 

Non-financial corporations held 36.4% of the total external debt as on Mar. 31, followed by deposit-taking corporations and the general government. Other financial corporations held 10.2% of the external debt. Debt-servicing obligations on this outstanding fell to 5.8% of current receipts as of March-end from 6.6% a year ago, the RBI said.  End

 

US$1 = INR 94.54

 

Reported by Aaryan Khanna

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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