New Delhi [India], Dec 29 (ANI): India's external debt stock stood at USD 495.7 billion for the quarter ending September 2017 recording an increase of 5.1 percent over the level at March-end 2017, the Finance Ministry data released on Friday showed.

At the end of March 2017, India's external debt stock stood at USD 471.8 billion and on a sequential basis, total external debt at end-September 2017 increased by USD 10.0 billion from the end-June 2017 level.

The rise in external debt during the period was primarily due to the increase in foreign portfolio investment (FPI) in the debt segment of the domestic capital market included under commercial borrowings.

"Some increase in short-term debt primarily due to trade-related credit also contributed to the overall increase in total external debt," the Finance Ministry said.

The maturity pattern of India's external debt indicates the dominance of long-term borrowings. At end-September 2017, long-term external debt accounted for 81.3 percent of India's total external debt, while the remaining 18.7 percent was short-term external debt, the Finance Ministry release said.

Finance Ministry also pointed out that the US dollar denominated debt accounted for 50.0 percent of India's total external debt at end-September 2017, followed by Indian rupee (35.7 percent), SDR (5.7 percent), Japanese Yen (4.4 percent), Euro (3.2 percent), Pound Sterling (0.6 percent), and others (0.4 percent).

The shares of Government (Sovereign) and non-Government debt in the total external debt was 21.6 percent and 78.4 percent respectively, at end-September 2017 with the former's share increasing from 19.4 percent at end-March 2017.

This was mainly due to the increasing level of foreign portfolio investment in government securities, the release said.

The foreign exchange cover to total external debt improved to 80.7 percent at end-September 2017 compared to 78.4 percent at end-March 2017. (ANI)