Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran highlighted that Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) successful mobilisation of FCNR (B) deposits has lent very strong support to India's balance of payments, and also provides a floor to the domestic currency against the US dollar. In order to strengthen India's external sector position and support foreign exchange liquidity amid global market uncertainties, RBI introduced a special USD-INR Forex Swap facility covering FCNR(B) deposits, ECBs and OFCB inflows on June 8, 2026. India attracted $56.84 billion, including $52.3 billion under the Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) or FCNR (B) deposits.
Underscoring various aspects of the economy, he said the resilience in the quarterly data is well backed by high frequency indicators. However, he indicated that while the domestic economic momentum is very strong in the near term, there are lingering uncertainties globally. He flagged concerns with respect to the level of interest rates and potential disruptions on energy commodity supplies and also their impact on food prices. Meanwhile, he pointed that the domestic momentum and export performance have both combined to deliver another quarter of very strong growth, vindicating the beneficial effects of macroeconomic structural reforms that have been implemented over the last 12 years. He added that the country is now reaping the benefits of the structural reforms in a very uncertain global environment.
On GDP front, CEA emphasized that all the three sectors -- primary, secondary and tertiary -- have contributed to the GDP growth in the first quarter of the fiscal. He added that manufacturing and services sectors performed well in the first quarter despite the West Asia related uncertainties, partly of the government's efforts to make sure that input provisions were not affected by the war in West Asia. India's economy grew at a faster-than-expected 7.8% in the April-June quarter, showing resilience in the face of concerns that the war in Iran and resulting global economic uncertainty could weigh on growth.
