http://in.news.yahoo.com/050930/137/60dd2.html
Friday September 30, 06:19 PM
India's external debt dips $1.3 bln in Apr-June
APPLY NOW
First Name: Last Name:
Gender: Male Female E-mail:
Telephone :
Mobile :
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's external debt fell by $1.31 billion to $122.15 billion in April-June from the previous quarter, mainly due to the dollar's appreciation against other major currencies, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday.
Short-term debt in the quarter stood at $7.28 billion, 6.0 percent of the total debt and down from $7.52 billion at the end of March.
The RBI said, however, external commercial borrowings (ECBs) rose during April-June, with companies' syndicated loans and overseas bond issues pushing up the ECB total to $27.2 billion.
Corporates have made a beeline to raise foreign currency loans at rates lower than domestic ones to fund capital expenditure plans.
The Indian central bank said foreign exchange reserves exceeded external debt by $16.2 billion at the end of June, providing 113.3 percent cover to the total debt stock.
Asia's third-largest economy had $144.22 billion in foreign exchange reserves on September 16, the fifth largest accumulation of reserves in the region.
The central bank said addition to foreign exchange reserves during the April-June quarter from the current and capital accounts was $1.2 billion.
Valuation losses due to the dollar's rebound against other major currencies accounted for a decrease of $4.3 billion in total reserves compared to $1.0 billion in a year earlier, resulting in a net decline of $3.1 billion in the quarter.
India's central bank states foreign currency assets in U.S. dollar terms and includes the effect of the appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in its reserves such as the euro, pound sterling and yen.