New Delhi: India's external debt stood at USD 455.9 billion in the first six months of the this fiscal, up 3.1 percent from March-end level, according to the Finance Ministry.
The external debt consist of long-term debt of USD 369.5 billion (up 4.7 percent from March) and short-term debt USD 86.4 billion (down 3.2 percent).
"The rise in external debt (of USD 13.7 billion or 3.1 percent from March-end level) during the period was due to long-term external debt particularly commercial borrowings and NRI deposits," the Finance Ministry said in a release Wednesday.
Share of commercial borrowings was highest at 35.4 percent of total external debt, followed by NRI deposits at 23.8 percent and multilateral debt at 11.7 percent.
Sovereign external debt stood at USD 88.4 billion in September, up from USD 81.5 billion in March 2014, it added.
"The share of US dollar denominated debt continued to be the highest in external debt stock at 60.1 percent at end-September 2014, followed by the Indian rupee 24.2 percent, Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 6.5 percent, Japanese yen 4.5 percent, and euro 3 percent," said the release.
Government releases data on India's external debt for the quarters ending September and December every year.
