Oil cost India $4.3 billion more in September. Gold and gems saved $8.1 billion.
Crude stayed expensive, yet India's goods trade deficit narrowed from $33.0 bn to $30.2 bn in September 2026 as gold and gem imports fell 64%.
CapitalVia Research Desk ·
Data story · 26 Oct 2026
India's balance of payments · August 2026
NRIs put $83 billion into Indian banks in one month.
In August 2025 the same line read $1.0 billion. A special RBI dollar window turned a trickle into the single biggest inflow in India's August accounts — and it is money that has to be paid back.
Net NRI deposit inflow, August 2026
$83.0 bn
August 2025: $1.0 bn
83× a year earlier
Scroll
August's dollars, side by side
Net flows in India's balance of payments, August 2026, US$ billion
Money in
NRI deposits
83.0
Services surplus
16.5
Transfers (mostly remittances)
12.8
Foreign direct investment
3.3
Foreign portfolio investment
1.7
Money out
Goods trade deficit
−26.6
Commercial borrowings (net)
−22.4
Income paid abroad (net)
−8.0
Overall balance → added to reserves+45.4
Bars are drawn to one scale (NRI deposits = full width). Only the largest lines are shown, so they do not add up to the total. Source: RBI, preliminary data.
How big is $83 billion?
25×
net foreign direct investment in the same month ($3.3 bn)
3.1×
August's goods trade deficit ($26.6 bn)
1.8×
the rise in reserves from all August flows combined ($45.4 bn)
Five months, then and now
Net NRI deposits, April–August, US$ billion
5.6
Apr–Aug 2025
119.2
Apr–Aug 2026
About 21 times as much — with $83.0 bn of it arriving in August alone.
The window that pulled it in
On 8 June 2026 the RBI opened a special dollar–rupee swap for banks' fresh FCNR(B) deposits — foreign-currency term deposits held by NRIs. Banks could swap those dollars with the RBI. The deposit leg shut on 31 August.
8 Jun 2026
window opens31 Aug 2026
deposits close
window opens31 Aug 2026
deposits close
- FCNR(B) deposits mobilised
- $132.98 bn
- Days the deposit window was open
- 85
- Average per day
- ≈ $1.56 bn
- Company foreign loans (ECBs), to 18 Sep
- $5.30 bn
- Banks' overseas borrowings, to 18 Sep
- $5.32 bn
The ECB and bank-borrowing legs stay open until 31 December 2026.
Borrowed, not earned
These are deposits, not exports or investment. Each one had to have an original term of at least three years, so the earliest fall due around mid-2029. The RBI's swap covers only the principal: when a swap ends, the RBI hands the dollars back to the bank, which owes them to the depositor.
Why it matters to you
If you're salaried
The extra dollars arrived while conflict in West Asia kept oil prices volatile. Bigger reserves give the RBI more room to steady the rupee, and a steadier rupee helps keep fuel and imported goods from getting dearer.
If you're a founder
The ECB leg is still open: foreign borrowings with an average maturity of three years or more can be swapped with the RBI until 31 December 2026. Check eligibility with your bank.
If you run a business
Treat the cushion as temporary. Unless depositors roll them over, these deposits can start leaving as they mature from 2029.
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