India has capacity to repay 94% of its foreign debt in a single day, says Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday dismissed concerns about an economic slowdown in the country, saying India has the capacity to repay 94 percent of its foreign debt in a single day. Addressing a press conference here to mark Prime minister Narendra Modi's 12 years in office, Fadnavis recalled the economic situation in earlier years, he said there was a time when concerns were raised about India's ability to repay foreign debt. "There was a period when people used to say that unless the IMF and World Bank came to India's rescue, the country would collapse because it did not have enough money to repay its foreign debt," he said. In the present, Fadnavis said, "Today, if required, India has the capacity to repay 94 per cent of its foreign debt in a single day." He also said that unlike earlier periods when the country sometimes lacked enough foreign exchange reserves to cover even a month's imports, India now had reserves sufficient to finance imports for nearly 11 months. The CM said the country continues to record the highest growth rate in the world despite repeated predictions of a recession. Fadnavis said those forecasting a downturn had been proved wrong by India's economic performance. India's GDP stayed robust in the January-March quarter with 7.8 per cent growth, while the FY26 expansion was at a healthy 7.7 per cent. "People kept talking about recession, recession, recession. But the economic growth rate in the current year is the highest in the world. India remains the fastest-developing economy," he said. Fadnavis said India had emerged as the world's fourth-largest economy and had crossed the USD 4.5 trillion mark, putting it firmly on course to become a USD 5 trillion economy. "People were saying there is a recession. But India still has the highest growth rate in the world and remains the fastest-growing economy," he said. Highlighting the country's external position, the chief minister said India today possessed foreign exchange reserves of around Rs 66 lakh crore, enough to cover 11 months of imports. Fadnavis further said India had become a global leader in digital transactions, with annual digital payments touching Rs 314 lakh crore and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) being adopted by nearly 30 countries. "The world spoke of recession, but India's economy has continued to expand and remains the fastest-growing among major economies," he said.