India’s external debt rose by 7.6 per cent to $440.6 billion in 2013—14 mainly due to rise in non—resident Indians deposits, the Reserve Bank said.

India’s external debt stood at $390 billion in the previous fiscal.

“The rise in external debt was due to long—term debt particularly NRI deposits. The surge in NRI deposits reflected the impact of fresh FCNR(B) deposits mobilised under the swap scheme during September—November 2013 to tide over the difficult balance of payment (BoP) situation in the initial parts of the year,” the central bank said in a statement.

The stock of NRI deposits in India’s external debt has risen substantially recently. It increased from $47.9 billion at end—March 2010 to $70.8 billion at end—March 2013 and further to $103.8 billion at end—March 2014.

The share of FCNR(B) witnessed significant rise recently due to special swap scheme during September to November 2013.

At end—March 2014, the share of FCNR(B) in total NRI deposits was 40.3 per cent.

At end—March 2014, it said, long—term external debt was $351.4 billion, showing an increase of 12.4 per cent over the level at end—March 2013.

At this level, long—term external debt accounted for 79.7 per cent of total external debt at end—March 2014 vis—is 76.4 per cent at end—March 2013, it added.

The report said, short—term external debt stood at $89.2 billion at end—March 2014, showing a decline of 7.7 per cent over $96.7 billion at the end—March 2013.

“This owed to the compression in import arising from the slowdown in aggregate demand and restrictions on gold imports.

Thus, the share of short—term external debt in total external debt declined from 23.6 per cent at end—March 2013 to 20.3 per cent at end—March 2014,” it said.

Government (sovereign) external debt stood at $81.5 billion at end—March 2014 vis—a—vis $81.7 billion at end—March 2013.

The share of government external debt in total external debt was lower at 18.5 per cent at end—March 2014 as compared to 19.9 per cent at end—March 2013, it said.

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