Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Shri Balasaheb Vikhe Patil)
(a) The external debt to Gross National Product (GNP) ratio
for India, along with some Asian and European countries at the
end of 1998 is shown as under:
Table 1: International Comparison of External debt to GNP Ratios at the end of 1998.
Countries External debt to GNP Ratio (per cent)
Asian:
China 16.4
India 23.0
Indonesia 176.5
Korea 44.0
Malaysia 65.3
Pakistan 52.8
Philippines 70.1
Sri Lanka 54.9
Thailand 76.5
European:
Czech Republic 45.5
Hungary 62.2
Poland 30.4
Romania 25.3
Russian Federation 69.4
Turkey 50.0
Source: Global Development Finance, 2000, The World Bank.
(b) The per capita outstanding external debt of the country
at the end of March 2000, stood at US Dollar 99.3
(equivalent to Rs.4332). The per capita outstanding internal
debt of the Central Government stood at Rs.7207 at the
end of March 2000.
(c) and (d): India`s external indebtedness position
improved considerably in recent years. This is reflected
in declining debt-GDP ratio from 38.7 per cent in 1990-91
to 22.0 per cent in 1999-2000. Similarly, debt service to
current receipts ratio also improved from 35.3 per cent
in 1990-91 to 16.0 per cent in 1999-2000. The ratio of
short- term debt to total external debt also declined
from a high of 10.2 per cent in 1990-91 to 4.1 per cent
in 1999-2000. The improvement in India`s external debt
position since early 1990s is due to a conscious debt
management policy followed by the Government that focuses
on achieving high growth of exports, keeping the maturity
structure as well as the total commercial debt under
manageable limits, limiting short-term debt and encouraging
non-debt creating financial flows on external capital account.
Internal debt of the Central Government as a proportion of GDP
increased from 26.6 per cent 1992-93 to 36.9 per cent in 2000-01.
The accumulation in the debt stock of the Central Government
during the 1990s could be attributed to high levels of fiscal
deficit and a reversal in the declining trend of revenue deficit
since 1997-98, primarily due to a sharp increase in the
expenditure on the revenue account. In view of the continuing
fiscal stress on the economy, a `Fiscal Responsibility and Budget
Management Bill, 2000` has been introduced recently. The Bill
provides a basis for a legal and institutional framework to
eliminate revenue deficit, bring down the fiscal deficit,
contain the growth of public debt and stablise debt as a
proportion of GDP within a time frame.
