India’s external debt rises to $747.2 billion at end-June 2025, RBI data shows

India’s external debt increased to $747.2 billion by the end of June 2025, up $11.2 billion from $736 billion at the end of March 2025, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Despite the higher debt stock, the external debt-to-GDP ratio slightly declined to 18.9% in June 2025, down from 19.1% three months earlier, according to RBI data.

RBI further explained that the depreciation of the dollar against the rupee and other major currencies, such as the euro, yen, and the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR), resulted in a valuation loss of $5.1 billion. Without this valuation impact, the actual increase in external debt would have been $6.2 billion.

At the end of June 2025, long-term debt (with an original maturity of over one year) was at $611.7 billion, an increase of $10.3 billion compared to the March-end level, according to the RBI.

Short-term debt, with maturities of up to one year, experienced a smaller increase. Its proportion of total external debt decreased slightly to 18.1% from 18.3% in the previous quarter.

The RBI noted that the ratio of short-term debt to India’s foreign exchange reserves also eased to 19.4% from 20.1%. On a residual maturity basis, which includes both long-term debt maturing within the next 12 months and original short-term borrowings, short-term debt accounted for 40.7% of total external debt, lower than 41.3% at the end of March. Relative to reserves, this measure also dropped to 43.6% from 45.4%.

Dollar-denominated borrowings continued to account for the largest share of India’s external liabilities, at 53.8% of the total. This was followed by debt denominated in rupees (30.6%), Japanese yen (6.6%), SDR (4.6%), and the euro (3.5%).

Loans accounted for the most considerable portion of external debt at 34.8%, the data showed. This was followed by currency and deposits (23.0%), trade credit and advances (17.7%), and debt securities (16.8%).

India’s debt service ratio, which measures principal repayments and interest payments as a share of current receipts, stood unchanged at 6.6% at the end of June 2025, the RBI added.