Mumbai, July 29 -- India's external debt stood at USD 736.3 billion as of end-March 2025, up from USD 668.8 billion a year earlier, according to the Monthly Economic Review report released by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). This marks a spike of around 10%. As a share of GDP, external debt rose to 19.1 per cent from 18.5 per cent a year ago. A part of this increase reflects valuation effects arising from the appreciation of the US dollar against the rupee and other major currencies, which added USD 5.3 billion to the debt stock. In terms of composition as of end-March 2025, USD-denominated debt remained dominant, accounting for 54.2 per cent of the total, followed by rupee, yen, and SDRs12 and euro-denominated debt.

Published b...