Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with MDs and CEOs of major banks in New Delhi to discuss three capital flow instruments: Foreign Currency Non-Resident Bank deposits (FCNR-B), External Commercial Borrowings (ECB), and Overseas Foreign Currency Borrowings (OFCB), along with associated swap initiatives. The meeting aimed to mobilise foreign capital inflows amid global uncertainty, strengthen India's external financing resilience, and coordinate with RBI's liquidity and forex management framework for FY2025-26.

India's external financing toolkit rests on three pillars that were discussed in this high-level meeting. FCNR(B) deposits allow NRIs to park foreign currency funds in Indian banks without exchange rate risk to the depositor — the bank absorbs that risk. When volumes are large, RBI often offers concessional swap windows (as it did in 2013 and 2022) to encourage banks to accept these deposits without bloating their forex hedging costs. ECBs are rupee or foreign-currency loans raised by Indian corporates from overseas lenders under RBI's framework, governed by end-use restrictions, all-in-cost ceilings, and minimum average maturity norms. OFCBs are a newer category allowing Indian banks themselves — not just corporates — to borrow overseas in foreign currency, expanding the supply side of dollar liquidity in the domestic system. The Finance Ministry convening this meeting signals a coordinated government-RBI strategy to attract inflows at a time when the current account deficit is under pressure and FPI debt flows remain volatile. For RBI Grade B aspirants, the key links are: RBI's role as swap counterparty, the external commercial borrowing master direction, FEMA provisions governing NRI accounts, and how these instruments affect India's BoP capital account and forex reserves.