India: Interest payments (% of expense)

Key figures

What the numbers say

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 2.2 percentage points in 1991 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.47 percentage points in 2008. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2022, India had the 4th highest value of the 23 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to India in the 2022 ranking

• Ghana — 1st of 23: 32.79%
• Malawi — 2nd of 23: 26.35%
• Lao PDR — 4th of 23: 16.99%
• South Africa — 5th of 23: 14.29%
• Mozambique — 6th of 23: 11.3%

What this measures

Interest payments include interest payments on government debt (including long-term bonds, long-term loans, and other debt instruments) to domestic and foreign residents. This indicator is expressed as percentage of total expenses which is any decrease in net worth resulting from a transaction.

Limitations: For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata. Because budgetary accounts may not include all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states the central government accounts provide an incomplete view of total public finance. Data on government revenue and expense are collected by the IMF through questionnaires to member countries and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a median.

All 46 values

Interest payments (% of expense) in nearby economies

• Bangladesh — 24.03% (2021)
• Bhutan — 1.9% (2020)
• Maldives — 8.84% (2021)
• Nepal — 4.11% (2021)
• Sri Lanka — 49.44% (2023)

More public sector data for India

• Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 2.86 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (current USD) — 92.06 billion (2025)
• Military expenditure (current LCU) — 8.02 trillion (2025)
• Military expenditure (% of GDP) — 2.3% (2025)
• Net acquisition of financial assets (current LCU) — 3.89 trillion (2022)
• Net acquisition of financial assets (% of GDP) — 1.49% (2022)
• Net incurrence of liabilities, total (current LCU) — 17.63 trillion (2022)
• Net incurrence of liabilities, total (% of GDP) — 6.75% (2022)
• Net investment in nonfinancial assets (current LCU) — 2.39 trillion (2022)
• Net investment in nonfinancial assets (% of GDP)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is India's interest payments (% of expense)?

23.23% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1974?

It is up 11.92 percentage points from 11.31% in 1974. The highest value was 29.65% in 2000 and the lowest 11.16% in 1975.

How does India rank?

4th highest of 23 economies with data for 2022.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator GC.XPN.INTP.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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