India's balance of payments surplus soars to $66.8 billion in H1 FY27 on strong bank deposit inflows

Kolkata: India recorded a balance of payments surplus of $66.8 billion for the first six months of the fiscal against a $6.4 billion deficit for the same period last year, buoyed by massive inflows in bank deposits, Reserve Bank of India data showed.

The current account deficit meanwhile widened to $25.8 billion for the first six months of FY27 from $18 billion on account of unfavourable merchandise flows. The exports grew to 265.3 billion for the six month period against $221.5 billion in the year-ago period while imports growth outpaced it $441.4 billion from $379.6 billion.

The services flows meanwhile remained positive at $105 billion against $98.8 billion earlier.


Under the capital account, the foreign currency non-resident bank (FCNR-B) deposits maintained with local banks saw a record $125.6 billion inflows during the six months through the central bank's dedicated dollar mobilisation programme. Banks saw a mere $6.1 billion inflows from non resident Indians during the same time last year.

The massive influx helped the capital account surplus widen to $92.6 billion as compared with $11.6 billion earlier, offsetting the $40.6 billion on account of maturity of external commercial borrowings.