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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sep 4

India’s external debt stock at end March 2008 stood at $ 221.2 billion, reflecting a 30.4 per cent increase over the previous year. Valuation change due to weakening of the US dollar vis-À-vis other major international currencies accounted for almost 20 per cent of the increment in total external debt during the year, said a status report on the country’s external debt for 2007-08 released by the Finance Ministry on Thursday.

In rupee terms, the increase in external debt during 2007-08 was lower at 19.6 per cent due to the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar. The report attributed the increase in external debt to rise in rise in external commercial borrowing (39.5 per cent) and short-term debt (34.8 per cent).

Between end-March 2007 and end-March 2008, the Government debt as a proportion of total external debt declined from 28.4 per cent to 25.6 per cent and as a percentage of GDP, it dropped from 5.3 per cent to 4.8 per cent, says the report.

More Stories on : Economy | Overseas Borrowings

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