You took one semester of Econ?? I don't even believe that. At a 350th ranked IIT???
I will take that as a compliment.
India has the 4th worst current account deficit of any EM nation. The country as a whole needs to borrow from the world just to survive. The govt needs to borrow just to survive too. It doesn't matter if the Indian govt (2nd highest EM govt debt level)borrows domestically or from overseas because the entire country is in trouble.
The US has a similar situation but they hold the world's reserve currency. Japan runs a huge surplus. India has neither.
Since we are talking about Balance of Payment,why limit discussion to current account only.After all balance of payment consist of two parts current account and capital account.
Current account consist of merchandise(Export and Import) and Invisibles(services,income and transfers) while capital account consist of Investment,loans and banking capital.
The breakup of latest data on balance of payment is as followed
I.Current account
1.Exports = $110518million
2.Imports = $177457million
3.Trade balance= $-66934million
4.Invisible(net)=$39058million
A.Non factor services $19510million
B.Income=$-6509million
5.Transfers = $26057million
6.Goods and services balance= $-47429million
7.Current account Balance = $-27881million
II.Capital Account
1. External assistance = $2993million
2. External commercial borrowing =$5974million
3. Short termdebt = $ 6749million
4. Banking capital = $834million
5. NRI deposits=$2163million
6. Foreign Investment = $23797million
A.FDI=$5340million
B.Portfolio Investment=$23797million
7.Other flows=$-9026 million
Capital Account Balance = $36661 million
III Errors and omissions= $-1750million
IV Overall Balance = $7030 million
http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2010-11/estat1.pdf
BoP has contrasting ramifications for economy.Decline in exports of Goods and Services in response to weak global demand dampens overall GDP growth but higher current account deficit lead to stronger absorption of foreign capital ie. higher investment activity financed by foreign capital which partly contributes to GDP growth.
While a high level of current account deficit could create problems but certain amount of Current account deficit is not only tolerable but desirable also as it indicate investment for future growth which always fetch higher return than lended money.Countries which produce Current Account Surplus end up in a situation in which they have to park their profits in low yielding bonds which produces real time -ve returns compared to investment.
I would be worried only when BoP(Current + Capital account) turns -ve not just Current Account.