The total loans outstanding on government account to the world financial bodies and on bilateral assistance stood at $41.57 billion as on July this year, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.

These included $25.49 billion payable to the World Bank and $14.05 billion worth of bilateral assistance, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said during the Question Hour.

Asked about the companies "vanishing" with crores worth of common investors' money, Singh said as many as 185 companies had "vanished" with over Rs 1,156 crore (Rs 11.56 billion) belonging to the investors.

In reply to a related question, Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley said India's trade gap more than doubled between 2002-03 and 2003-04 primarily due to the growth of both oil and non-oil imports.

The trade gap between April-June 2003-04 stood at (-)$4,182 million compared with (-)$1,801 million in the corresponding period in 2002-03 and (-)$2,430 million in 2001-02, he said.

The provisional worth of export in 2002-03 stood at $52,234 million, while the value of import stood at $61,286 million in the same year.