Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance has been compiling and releasing quarterly statistics on India’s External Debt for the quarters ending September and December every year. This press release relates to India’s external debt at end-December 2013. 2. At end-December 2013, India’s total external debt stock stood at US$ 426.0 billion, recording an increase of US$ 21.1 billion (5.2 per cent) over the level at end-March 2013. India’s external debt to GDP ratio stood at 23.3 per cent at end-December 2013 vis-à-vis 21.8 per cent at end-March 2013. The rise in external debt during the period was due to long-term debt particularly NRI deposits. A sharp increase in NRI deposits reflected the impact of fresh FCNR(B) deposits mobilized under the swap scheme during September-November 2013.