India secures record $127B in foreign-currency inflows from diaspora

India’s central bank just pulled off something that would make most finance ministers weep with joy. The Reserve Bank of India mobilized $127.23 billion in Foreign Currency Non-Resident Bank deposits, known as FCNR(B), from its overseas diaspora through a special dollar-swap facility that launched on June 8, 2026. The program was originally supposed to run through September 30. It closed on August 31 instead, a full month ahead of schedule, because the response was so overwhelming that keeping the window open felt redundant. How the swap facility worked The RBI opened a special window allowing Indian banks to accept foreign-currency deposits from Non-Resident Indians, with the central bank absorbing the hedging costs on those deposits. By taking on the currency risk itself, the RBI effectively let banks offer NRIs competitive deposit rates without the usual drag of hedging expenses. The $127.23 billion figure covers just the FCNR(B) deposits. When you add in overseas foreign-currency borrowings and external commercial borrowings that flowed through the same window, total inflows hit approximately $136.38 billion. Initial projections had pegged the facility’s likely haul at somewher...