India 5th-most indebted developing country

However,he maintained that India had managed its external debt well and there was no cause for concern.

8220;As a result of prudent external debt management,India8217;s external debt has remained within manageable limits,as indicated by the external debt to GDP ratio of 17.3 per cent and debt-service ratio of 4.2 per cent in 2010-11,8221; Mukherjee said.

He informed the House that the external debt management policy of the government emphasises on raising sovereign credit on concessional terms with longer maturities; regulating external commercial borrowings through end-use and all-in-cost restrictions; rationalising interest rates on NRI deposits and monitoring long and short term debt.

India8217;s long-term external debt stood at 240.9 billion at March-2011 end,short-term external debt at 65 billion.

Hence the total external debt adds up to 305.9 billion. India8217;s external debt,on Government Account under External Assistance,stood at 62.4 billion at March-end,2011 comprising multilateral debt of 42.6 billion and bilateral debt of 19.8 billion.