India’s external debt mounts to 20 per cent of GDP at $335 billion

India's total external debt stock rose to $334.9 billion at end-December 2011 – an increase of $28.8 billion (or 9.4 per cent) over end-March 2011 estimates of $306.1 billion.

This pushed up India's external debt to GDP ratio to 20 per cent as of end-December 2011 from 17.8 per cent at end-March 2011.

The increase in external debt has been due largely to higher commercial borrowings and short-term trade credit, as per data released by the department of economic affairs of the finance ministry.

Of this, $256.9 billion was long-term debt and $ 78.1 billion short-term debt, accounting for 76.7 per cent and 23.3 per cent, respectively, of the country's total external debt.

As of end-December 2011, long-term debt recording an increase of $15.8 billion (6.5 per cent) over the end-March 2011 level, while short-term debt increased by $13.1 billion (20.1 per cent).

Component-wise, the share of commercial borrowings was highest at 29.9 per cent, followed by NRI deposits (15.7 per cent) and multilateral debt (14.9 per cent).