India’s latest foreign-currency deposit drive has raised $127.2 billion, more than twice the scale of the 2013 programme relative to GDP and NRI deposits
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India’s 2026 Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank), or FCNR(B), mobilisation has emerged as the country’s strongest diaspora-focused foreign-currency fundraising exercise, raising $127.2 billion, according to an analysis by ETBFSI.
The amount is equivalent to 3.1% of India’s gross domestic product, more than twice the 1.4% of GDP raised through the previous FCNR(B) scheme in 2013. The latest mobilisation also represented 76.8% of outstanding NRI deposits, compared with 38.3% in 2013.
The scale of the exercise also exceeds earlier attempts to tap the Indian diaspora. India Development Bonds raised $3.3 billion in 1991, followed by $4.7 billion through Resurgent India Bonds in 1998 and $5.5 billion under the India Millennium Deposit scheme in 2000. The 2013 FCNR(B) programme raised $26 billion.
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The latest programme mobilised an amount equivalent to 75.6% of annual private remittances, compared with about 40% under the 2013 scheme
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Outstanding NRI deposits have also expanded significantly, reaching $165.7 billion in 2026 from $67.9 billion in 2013
Several factors helped drive the stronger response. The 2026 scheme offered a 6% coupon, compared with 4.4% in 2013, while the US two-year Treasury yield was around 4%, versus just 0.3% during the earlier exercise. India’s overseas community has also grown, with the NRI and PIO population estimated at 37.3 million, compared with 21.9 million in 2013.
The latest mobilisation follows a rapid acceleration in inflows during the programme. By late August, total foreign-currency inflows had already reached $73 billion, with FCNR(B) deposits accounting for $65.4 billion.
The figures underline the unprecedented scale of the 2026 exercise and its growing importance as a source of foreign-currency funding for India’s banking system.
