Overview

• Authorised dealer banks in India and their overseas branches can now lend in rupees to residents of Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka for trade-related needs.
• Financial Benchmarks India Ltd will publish transparent reference rates starting with the Indonesian rupiah and UAE dirham to enable direct INR pairs.
• Officials cautioned that active markets for these INR pairs are thin, so benchmarking and rollout will proceed in phases as liquidity develops.
• SRVA balances held by foreign banks are now eligible for investment in Indian corporate bonds and commercial paper, expanding beyond government securities.
• The RBI kept the repo rate at 5.5% with a neutral stance and cited buffers including a Q1 FY26 current account deficit of $2.4 billion and $700.2 billion in forex reserves.