India’s External Debt Rises To $762.8 Billion At End-March 2026: RBI

India’s external debt rose to $762.8 billion at the end of March 2026, an increase of $26.3 billion from a year earlier, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday.

The RBI said the external debt-to-GDP ratio increased to 20.8 per cent at end-March 2026 from 19.8 per cent a year earlier.

While the government’s outstanding external debt declined during the period, non-government debt registered an increase.

According to the RBI, debt servicing, comprising principal repayments and interest payments, declined to 5.8 per cent of current receipts at end-March 2026 from 6.6 per cent a year earlier.

The central bank noted that the appreciation of the US dollar against the Indian rupee and other major currencies resulted in a valuation effect of $24.6 billion.

Excluding this impact, India’s external debt would have increased by $51 billion over the previous year.

Long-term debt stood at $613.5 billion, while the share of short-term debt in total external debt rose to 19.6 per cent.

US dollar-denominated debt continued to account for the largest share of India’s external debt at 55.5 per cent, followed by debt denominated in the Indian rupee (29.4 per cent), yen (6.4 per cent), SDR (4.3 per cent) and euro (3.7 per cent).

Among borrower categories, non-financial corporations held the largest share of outstanding external debt at 36.4 per cent, followed by deposit-taking corporations (26.5 per cent), the general government (22 per cent) and other financial corporations (10.2 per cent).

Loans remained the largest component of external debt at 34.7 per cent, followed by currency and deposits, trade credit and advances, and debt securities.

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