India's External Debt Increases to $762.8 Billion, its Ratio to GDP Rises to 20.8%

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said in its latest update on Monday (June 29) that India’s external debt has increased by $26.3 billion over its level at end-March 2025 and presently stands at $762.8 billion, reported Business Standard.

The external debt to Gross Development Product (GDP) ratio also increased to 20.8% at end-March 2026 from 19.8% at end-March 2025.

While valuation effect owing to the appreciation of the US dollar against the Indian rupee and other major currencies amounted to $24.6 billion, if the valuation effect is excluded, external debt would have increased by $51.0 billion instead of $26.3 billion at end-March 2026 over end-March 2025.

US dollar-denominated debt continues to be the largest component of India's external debt, with a share of 55.5% at end-March 2026, followed by debt denominated in the Indian rupee (29.4%), yen (6.4%), SDR2 (4.3%), and euro (3.7%).

Long-term debt (with original maturity of above one year) also saw an increase of $ 11.6 billion over its level at end-March 2025 and amounted to US$ 613.5 billion.

The share of short-term debt (with original maturity of up to one year) in total external debt also rose to 19.6% at end-March 2026 from 18.3% at end-March 2025.

While the latest data indicates an increase in India’s total external debt, The Wire had also earlier reported that the Union government’s debt-to-GDP ratio may have risen to 57.85% in FY26, above the 56.1% estimated in the Union budget, after India’s nominal GDP came in lower than anticipated, according to calculations based on the government’s provisional GDP estimates.

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