Foreign currency non-resident (Bank) or FCNR(B) deposits, which were introduced in 1993, will prove to be a litmus test for the country’s ability to mobilise long-term foreign currency resources from its vast global diaspora.

At a time of geopolitical fragmentation, volatile capital flows and uncertain interest-rate cycles (as inflation risks persist) that are redefining international finance, these instruments have become a strategic macroeconomic rupee stabilisation tool, but at the risk of increasing external liabilities.