**Executive Summary**
This document is the response to Unstarred Question No. 129 in Lok Sabha, answered on December 1, 2025, regarding the per capita debt per citizen in India. It provides data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on average debt per borrower and live unique borrowers from March 2018 to March 2025, data on household financial liabilities from 2014-15 to 2024-25, and data on India's external debt from 2015 to June 2025. There are no explicit deadlines or action items listed.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Average Debt per Borrower and Live Unique Borrowers (RBI Data):**
* The data represents the debt outstanding of live unique borrowers, not the average debt of an Indian citizen.
* The number of borrowers in the financial system has been increasing, according to data reported by credit institutions to Transunion CIBIL.
* Data includes the debt outstanding of live unique borrowers (₹ crore), number of live unique borrowers with debt outstanding (Crore), and average debt per borrower (₹) for each financial year-end from March 2018 to March 2025.
* **Household Financial Liabilities (RBI Data):**
* Data on household financial liabilities is provided for the financial years 2014-15 to 2024-25.
* The data includes figures in ₹ lakh crore and as a percentage of GDP.
* **India's External Debt (RBI Data):**
* Data on India's external debt is provided for each year-end from March 2015 to March 2025 and End-June 2025.
* The data is presented in ₹ crore.
**Impact Analysis**
**Ministry of Finance**
* **Impact:** Required to compile and provide data on citizen debt, household liabilities and external debt to address the Lok Sabha question.
* **Action Required:** No action required, information is for informational purposes only.
**Reserve Bank of India (RBI)**
* **Impact:** Data from RBI is referenced, influencing the response to the parliamentary question.
* **Action Required:** No action required, information is for informational purposes only.
**Indian Citizens / Borrowers**
* **Impact:** Indirectly affected by the trends in debt per borrower, household financial liabilities, and external debt, reflecting the economic environment.
* **Action Required:** No action required, information is for informational purposes only.
Key Entities Referenced
Reserve Bank of India (RBI): Central bank of India, providing data on debt and liabilities.
Ministry of Finance: The government ministry responsible for answering questions about per capita debt and financial liabilities.
Lok Sabha: House of the Parliament where the unstarred question was raised.
Department of Economic Affairs: Department under the Ministry of Finance.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.129
TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2025 / Agrahayana 10, 1947 (Saka)
Per Capita Debt Per Citizen
129. Mr Pathan Yusuf:
Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:
(a) the details of the amount of per capita debt per citizen during the last eleven years, year-
wise;
(b) whether it is a fact that the number of borrowers has been increasing, if so, the details
thereof;
(c) the details of the total amount of aggregate financial liabilities of households from 2014 till
2025, year-wise; and
(d) the details of external debt of the country during the last eleven years, year-wise?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)
(a) & (b): As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), data on average debt per borrower and
live unique borrowers is available from March 2018 onwards and is presented below. The data
on average debt per borrower represents the debt outstanding of live unique borrowers and does
not represent the average debt of an Indian citizen. According to RBI, the number of borrowers
in the financial system has been increasing as per the data reported by credit institutions to
Transunion CIBIL, a credit information company.
No. of live unique
Debt outstanding of
borrowers who have Average debt per
Financial year-end live unique borrowers
debt outstanding borrower (₹)
(₹ crore)
(Crore)
Mar-18 43,61,013 12.8 3,41,478
Mar-19 51,32,865 14.6 3,52,764
Mar-20 57,89,464 16.9 3,42,910
Mar-21 63,99,851 18.7 3,41,408
Mar-22 74,79,945 20.2 3,70,280
Mar-23 89,44,880 22.8 3,92,028
Mar-24 1,13,31,879 26.3 4,31,225
Mar-25 1,35,09,017 28.3 4,77,583(c): According to Reserve Bank of India, the data on household financial liabilities since
2014-15 is as under:
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024-
Year
-15 -16 -17 -18 -19 -20 -21 -22 -23 -24 25*
In ₹ lakh
3.8 3.9 4.7 7.5 7.7 7.7 7.4 9.0 16.0 18.8 15.7
crore
As per cent
3.0 2.8 3.0 4.4 4.1 3.9 3.7 3.8 5.9 6.2 4.7
of GDP
* Preliminary estimates as per RBI Bulletin, August 2025, Occasional Series Table 50(a).
Source: NSO and RBI.
(d): As per Reserve Bank of India, the data on India’s external debt is as under:
End-March ₹ Crore
2015 29,71,542
2016 32,17,563
2017 30,55,095
2018 34,41,960
2019 37,54,872
2020 41,97,652
2021 41,92,353
2022 47,00,446
2023 51,29,944
2024 55,75,456
2025 63,00,108
End-June 2025 63,94,246
Source: Reserve Bank of India
*****