In a reply to the question asked in the Lok Sabha on 10 March, Arjun Ram Meghwal, minister of state in the ministry of finance said that, there has been a rise of 9.2% in per capita total debt (internal and external) as on 31 March 2016 as compared to 31 March 2015. He further added that the per capita internal debt increased by 9.3%, while the per capita external debt increased by 5.1% during the given period.
In absolute terms, the per capita total debt increased by an amount of Rs4,525, and reached Rs53,796 on 31 March 2016. Let’s read more about the per capita debt and why we should be concerned about it.
Per capita debt
According to the IMF, external debt is defined as “the outstanding amount of those actual current, and not contingent, liabilities that require payment(s) of principal and/or interest by the debtor at some point(s) in the future and that are owed to non-residents by residents of an economy.”