ICICI Bank, Foreign Lenders Emerge Winners as FCNR(B) Deposits Surge

India’s latest push to attract Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank), or FCNR(B), deposits has produced a clear set of winners, with banks that offered aggressive interest rates and effectively used their overseas balance sheets capturing a disproportionately large share of the inflows. Brokerage reports from Macquarie, Jefferies, Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOSL) and BofA Securities indicate that banks mobilised a significant portion of the $136.4 billion, or around Rs 12.96 lakh crore, that flowed into the FCNR(B) deposit scheme. The gains, however, were not determined by the size of a bank's domestic deposit franchise.

ICICI Bank emerged as the standout among large private sector lenders. According to Macquarie, the bank mobilised $17.88 billion, or around Rs 1.70 lakh crore, in FCNR(B) deposits, translating into an estimated 18 per cent share of the market. MOSL estimates ICICI Bank's share at about 14 per cent, which is still twice its normal deposit-market footprint. The bank's strong mobilisation was supported significantly by its international balance sheet. Macquarie estimates that more than 70 per cent of the mobilisation leverage came from the bank's own balance sheet, including nearly $9 billion in loans from its international branches and $3.6 billion in standby letters of credit issued to other banks.

Smaller private lender RBL Bank also punched well above its weight. According to MOSL, the bank mobilised around $3.4 billion, or approximately Rs 32,000 crore, accounting for about 2.7 per cent of total FCNR(B) deposits. This was significantly higher than its normal deposit market share of around 0.5 per cent. Foreign banks emerged as the biggest relative beneficiaries of the scheme. Jefferies said their share of FCNR(B) deposits increased sharply from around 1-2 per cent in early June to between 15 per cent and 30 per cent of incremental flows by the end of July. HSBC was among the biggest beneficiaries.

MOSL estimates that the bank had captured around 22 per cent of total inflows, mobilising $6.1 billion, or roughly Rs 58,000 crore, as of July 30. Jefferies' bank-wise data showed HSBC's incremental deposits reaching about $6.14 billion by the end of August. Standard Chartered also secured around 7 per cent of the incremental flows.

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