• According to RBI data, India’s external debt stood at $558.5 billion in March, an increase of $15.4 billion compared with the year-ago period.

• Major components of the external debt:

• Long-term debt (by March end), with original maturity of above one year, was placed at $451.7 billion, a rise of $17 billion over the level recorded in March 2019.
• Short-term debt on residual maturity basis constituted 42.4% of the total external debt and 49.5% of foreign exchange reserves at the end of March.

Debt in Denominations:

• S. dollar-denominated debt continued to be the largest component of India’s external debt, with a share of 53.7% at end-March 2020.
• It is followed by the Indian rupee (31.9%), yen (5.6%), SDR (4.5%) and the euro (3.5%).