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

India's external debt stood at USD 571.3 billion at end-June, recording an increase of USD 1.6 billion over its level at the end of March 2021, the RBI said

Mumbai:India's external debt stood at USD 571.3 billion at 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 per cent at June-end 2021 from 21.1 per cent as on 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 per cent, followed by non-resident deposits (24.8 per cent) and short-term trade credit (17.4 per cent).

As on June 30, long-term debt (with 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 per cent as on June 30 from 17.7 per cent at end-March.

However, the ratio of short-term debt (original maturity) to foreign exchange reserves declined to 16.8 per cent from 17.5 per cent at 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 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).

The instrument-wise classification shows that loans were the largest component of external debt, with a share of 34.7 per cent, followed by currency and deposits, trade credit and advances and debt securities.

Further, the borrower-wise classification shows that the outstanding debt of government decreased while non-government sector's debt increased at end-June 2021.

The RBI also said debt service (principal repayments plus interest payments) almost halved to 4.1 per cent of current receipts at end-June 2021, compared to 8.2 per cent 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 on India declined by USD 24.3 billion during the April-June quarter of 2021-22.

PTI