What debt are you talking about here? Is this total debt,...

What debt are you talking about here? Is this total debt, private debt, public debt, external debt etc?

I don't follow India that much, but last I looked their external debt obligations (that owed to other countries) as a percentage of GDP was quite low (same with their public debt) - of the magnitude of around 5% (this compares to around 100% of GDP for the US - using Oct 2008 figures, or 107% for Australia as an example).

Really gets quite murky when you are looking at debt levels as there are so many other factors to consider. Private debt is generally considered less risky than having high public debt. Also, some of the quoted debt levels involve inter govt. borrowings, low interest rates etc.

NZ, as an example, has a high current account deficit and high overall debt levels, but it has low public debt (relatively) and most of the private debt is due to borrowings for housing and mortagages, which if the asset prices remain steady shouldn't present as much risk as what you see in the UK, for example. Unfortunately a lot of the debt is of a short term nature and therefore you would think it may prove difficult to refinance in the current environment. However, complicating this conclusion is the fact that relative to the rest of the world (US being a prime example with trillions of dollars of debt) NZ is but a pimple on a sheeps butt and therefore the relatively smaller size of the debt may not be as difficult to refinance as others may find.

As for India, I have no idea.

Cheers
SBC