ICICI Bank has successfully mobilised $17.88 billion (₹1.70 lakh crore) through Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank), or FCNR(B), deposits under the Reserve Bank of India's special forex swap facility, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday (September 2). The mobilisation was recorded up to August 31, the cut-off date for fresh FCNR(B) deposits eligible under the facility. As reported by The Economic Times, the bank's international branches and subsidiaries provided around $9 billion (₹85,600 crore) in loans against these deposits, while it issued standby letters of credit worth about $3.63 billion (₹34,600 crore) to other banks in connection with loans against such deposits. The bank additionally issued approximately $3.55 billion in USD-denominated bonds during July-August 2026, with the information flagged as provisional and unaudited. According to finance ministry data, India attracted $65.40 billion in FCNR(B) deposits till August 21, demonstrating the overwhelming response to the facility.
The RBI introduced the special USD-INR swap facility on June 8 to encourage banks to mobilise foreign-currency inflows, including through fresh FCNR(B) deposits, amid pressure on the rupee. According to CNBC TV18, the central bank subsequently allowed banks greater flexibility in accessing the swap facility ahead of the deadline, including permitting swaps outside the regular weekly window for transactions above $100 million. The strong response prompted the RBI to advance the closure of the FCNR(B) window to August 31 from the earlier September 30 deadline. The RBI has stated that swaps against FCNR(B) deposits mobilised by August 31 can still be availed until September 11, 2026. By late August, the FCNR(B) component of the RBI's broader forex swap facility had attracted more than $65 billion, while the overall facility covering FCNR(B) deposits, external commercial borrowings and overseas foreign-currency borrowings had mobilised close to $73 billion, according to Reuters report.
The mobilisation provides ICICI Bank with substantial foreign-currency funding for loans, with loans extended against these deposits and supported by SBLCs reaching over seventy percent of the total FCNR(B) deposits. As per The Economic Times, together, direct loans and loans supported through SBLCs amount to about $12.63 billion, or more than 70% of the FCNR(B) deposits mobilised by ICICI Bank. The RBI swap facility also reduces the currency risk associated with raising dollar deposits, making the funding more usable for banks to support credit growth without taking a large unhedged foreign-exchange exposure. This provides banks additional liquidity that can be deployed towards loans, either directly through their overseas operations or to support credit to borrowers requiring foreign-currency funding, while easing pressure on their domestic deposit base.
Global brokerages UBS and Citi have reaffirmed their confidence in ICICI Bank, maintaining 'Buy' ratings with target prices of ₹1,800 and ₹1,770 respectively. According to UBS, ICICI Bank's FCNR(B) mobilisation has come in significantly ahead of expectations, hauling in almost double the initial estimates. The massive surge implies that these specific deposits now account for 9% of the bank's outstanding deposits, while loans provided against these flows stand at a highly conservative 5% of outstanding loans. Citi projects that this sheer volume of accretion will deliver a tangible 2.5% to 3% uplift in absolute net interest income (NII) and Pre-Provision Operating Profit (PPOP) by FY27. However, this massive influx of liquidity comes with optical near-term trade-offs, with Citi estimating that overseas NIMs will compress by 50 basis points, dropping from 1% down to 0.5% going into Q1FY27, while overall NIMs are expected to dilute by 10 to 20 basis points over the next two quarters.
ICICI Bank shares were trading lower on Wednesday morning, down ₹8 or 0.56% at ₹1,430 on the NSE as of 11:38 am, after the private lender disclosed details of its FCNR(B) deposit mobilisation under RBI's swap facility ahead of the August 31 deadline. The stock opened at ₹1,425.10, touched an intraday high of ₹1,436 and a low of ₹1,422.60, with sell-side pressure slightly dominant at 52.73% of total order quantity against 47.27% on the buy side. Traded volume stood at 32.41 lakh shares with a traded value of ₹463.29 crore, while the bank's total market capitalisation was at ₹10,24,893.94 crore. The stock's 52-week high of ₹1,480 was hit on July 20, 2026, while the 52-week low of ₹1,187.60 was recorded on April 2.
