Ques: The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has brought-out the Twenty First issue of its Annual Publication ‘India’s External Debt: A Status Report 2014-15’. According to this India’s External Debt at End-March 2015 is-
a. US$ 446.3 Billion
b. US$ 475.8 Billion
c. US$ 470.8 Billion
d. US$ 460.9 Billion
Ans: b
Related facts:
- The Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has brought-out the Twenty First issue of its Annual Publication ‘India’s External Debt: A Status Report 2014-15’.
- The Report presents a detailed analysis of India’s external debt position at end-March 2015, based on the data released by the Reserve Bank of India on June 30, 2015.
- India’s External Debt at End-March 2015 stood at US$ 475.8 Billion, Reflecting an Increase of US$ 29.5 Billion (6.6 Per Cent) over the level at End-March 2014.
- Rise In External Debt was due to the Rise in Long-Term Debt Particularly Commercial Borrowings and NRI Deposits States Twenty First Issue of ‘India’s External Debt.
- At end-March 2015, long-term external debt was US$ 391.1 billion, showing an increase of 10.3 per cent over the level at end-March 2014. At this level, long-term external debt accounted for 82.2 per cent of total external debt at end-March 2015 vis-à-vis 79.5 per cent at end-March 2014.
- Short-term external debt stood at US$ 84.7 billion at end-March 2015, showing a decline of 7.6 per cent over US$ 91.7 billion at the end-March 2014.
- Government (sovereign) external debt stood at US$ 89.7 billion at end-March 2015 vis-a-vis US$ 83.7 billion at end-March 2014.
- The share of Government external debt in total external debt was 18.9 per cent at end-March 2015 vis-à-vis 18.8 per cent at end-March 2014.
- India’s external debt has remained within manageable limits as indicated by the external debt-GDP ratio of 23.8 per cent during 2014-15.
- End-March 2015, the government guaranteed external debt was US $ 9.5 billion, while on the end-March, 2014 it was US $ 9.9 billion.
- According to data released by SEBI, foreign institutional investors (FII) in India invested the net amount of US $ 45.7 billion, in the year 2014-15.
- Of this, about 60 percent, i.e. a large amount of US $ 27.3 billion have been invested as loans, while the rest is invested as equity.
- According to Bloomberg data, the flow of loans to India in the year 2014-15, except China, is the third largest borrower in the Asia-Pacific region after Japan and Korea.
Reference:
http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_eco_affairs/economic_div/India_External_Debt201415H.pdf
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=126424