ICICI Bank has mobilised approximately ₹1.70 lakh crore ($17.88 billion) through Foreign Currency Non-Resident (B) deposits under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) special foreign exchange swap facility as of August 31.

In addition to raising these deposits, the bank has extended about $9 billion in loans against them, according to the report.

FCNR(B) deposits are term deposits held by non-resident Indians in foreign currency, typically in US dollars, with the exchange risk borne by the bank rather than the depositor. Under the RBI's swap facility, banks can swap the dollar funds raised through such deposits with the central bank for rupees, which helps shore up the country's foreign exchange reserves while providing banks with domestic-currency liquidity.

The RBI had opened the special swap window in November 2024 for fresh FCNR(B) and NRE deposits, easing norms to attract dollar inflows at a time when the rupee was under pressure and foreign exchange reserves had declined from their record highs. The facility drew comparisons to a similar swap window the central bank offered in 2013, when India was grappling with a sharp depreciation of the rupee and a widening current account deficit; that earlier scheme had attracted roughly $34 billion in FCNR(B) inflows.

The mobilisation by ICICI Bank forms part of a broader inflow of foreign currency deposits into the Indian banking system following the RBI's decision to open the special swap window. The window was initially available until March 2025 and was later extended, with deposit raised under it subject to a specified maturity period, so the pace of fresh inflows and the eventual redemption schedule remain key details to watch for the banking system's foreign currency funding position.

Source: CNBC-TV18