India's total external debt stood at $101.97 billion as on September last year, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

The debt service payments in 2000-01 were recorded at $12,139 million, $11,076 million in 2001-02 and $6,358 million between April and September last year, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said during Question Hour.

In reply to a question on trade deficit, Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said it had come down from $12.85 billion in 1999-00 to $6.95 billion in 2001-02 and rose again to $7.68 billion in 2002-03.

This rise was primarily due to the hike in oil prices, with oil imports constituting 30 per cent of India's total imports, Jaitley said.

To another question, Singh said foreign direct investment inflows had registered a consistent growth since 1991, rising to $4434.5 million in 2002 from $4281 million the previous year.