of foreign loans in July; about half was refinancing and on-lending
Half of July’s foreign loans were balance-sheet housekeeping
According to the RBI, India lined up $7.7bn through 177 offshore loans in July. Sounds like a wall of fresh foreign money pouring into the economy? Well, it isn't.
Roughly half the month was balance-sheet housekeeping: 28.6% refinancing + 21.2% on-lending. Funnily, the biggest lender was sitting inside India. GIFT City supplied $3.0bn, or 38.8% of the total, across just 19 deals, with ~80% of it going into refinancing and NBFC on-lending.
HUDCO alone took $1.55bn, or 20.2%, most of it from those same GIFT City lenders. And then comes the interesting bit: $571.9mn raised by ONGC Videsh and Dishman is earmarked for buying assets abroad. So it shows up as an Indian ECB inflow, even though the money is ultimately walking out of India!
Half of July’s $7.7bn in foreign loans went to refinancing and on-lending
What the 177 external commercial borrowings registered with the RBI in July are for. Only a sliver is tagged to leave the country again.
US$ MILLION REGISTERED
- Refinancing rupee loans2,204 28.6%
- On-lending1,632 21.2%
- Import of capital goods1,165 15.1%
- Everything else2,124 27.6%
- Overseas investment, ONGC Videsh and Dishman572 7.4%
Everything else is general corporate purposes ($674mn) and smaller purposes, most of it Flipkart Internet’s $712mn. These are registrations, not money received.
RBI, ECB details for July 2026 · July 2026
The biggest lender to India in July sat in GIFT City, Gujarat
Financial institutions in India’s own offshore zone supplied $3.0bn, 38.8% of July’s total, across just 19 loans.
US$ MILLION REGISTERED, BY LENDER TYPE
- GIFT City lenders2,987 38.8%
- Bond investors abroad1,400 18.2%
- Foreign parent companies1,394 18.1%
- Banks and lenders abroad1,008 13.1%
- Other908 11.8%
80% of it went to refinancing and on-lending. HUDCO alone took $1.33bn
RBI records each lender’s type, not its country. Other is leasing companies ($453mn) and smaller lender types.
RBI, ECB details for July 2026 · July 2026
July was the biggest month for foreign loans in a year
External commercial borrowings registered with the RBI each month. July’s 177 loans were also the most of any month in the year.
US$ BILLION REGISTERED
Half of it refinancing and on-lending
RBI, ECB monthly details · Aug 2025 to Jul 2026