India is committed to repay its high interest debt earlier than scheduled and has already paid over $3 billion, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh told the Lok Sabha on Friday.
"Though I do not want to announce when and how much will be paid in the future, our commitment to repay our high interest debt earlier than scheduled remains... we will continue to follow this prudent policy," he said during the Question Hour.
He said while paying this huge amount, "not even a flutter was felt" in the inflow of foreign exchange into the country as also on the rupee rate.
Singh said India's foreign exchange reserves stood at $83.3 billion as on July 11 this year and its external debt was estimated at $105 billion at the end of the last year.
"The country's external debt indicators have progressively improved in terms of both debt-GDP and debt service ratios", he said, adding the government had pre-paid high-cost foreign currency loan worth $1342.33 million from the Asian Development Bank and $1687.8 million from the World Bank.