India s external debt at $513.4 bnn

New Delhi March 28 (IANS) Indias external debt stood at $513.4 billion at the end of December recording an increase of 8.8 per cent or $41.6 billion over the level at March-end the government said on Wednesday.

The rise during the period was primarily due to the increase in commercial borrowings NRI deposits and short-term debt it said.

Finance Ministry s Economic Affairs Department has been compiling and releasing quarterly statistics on India s external debt for the quarters ending September and December every year.

According to the government the maturity pattern of the debt indicated dominance of long-term borrowings.

"At end-December 2017 long-term external debt accounted for 81 per cent of India s total external debt while the remaining (19 per cent) was short-term external debt " it said.

"The shares of government (sovereign) and non-government debt in the total external debt were 21.2 per cent and 78.8 per cent respectively at end-December with the former s share increasing from 19.4 per cent at end-March " it added.

--IANS
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