<b>Parthasarathi Shome:</b> External debt: An analysis of BRICS

Unlike in other such reports, India doesn't fare too badly in comparison with its BRICS peers

The 2017 edition of cross-country external debt is just out. I ask how India has fared, as I have asked time and again for many such available comparative information. More often than not, India lingers at the bottom. I am therefore glad to report at the start of the year that India does not fare poorly in a BRICS comparison. 

Countries can define international debt in different ways, reflecting the context of discussion. In this multilateral context, external debt is defined as the sum of public, publicly guaranteed, private non-guaranteed long-term debt, use of IMF credit, and short-term debt. Thus