The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) issued a circular dated November 11, 2025, directing all IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) to enhance the reporting of foreign currency transactions for India’s external account statistics. IBUs, which currently report foreign currency balances held abroad through the fortnightly Banking Asset Liability (BAL) statement, must now also include balances in foreign currency accounts of overseas banks maintained with them under Vostro accounts. Reporting will be done fortnightly via the Balance of Payments (BoP) portal starting from the second fortnight of November 2025 using the revised BAL format. The circular specifies that only one net balance (credit or debit) should be reported under each account, with country and currency details included. Non-compliance or inaccurate reporting will be viewed seriously by IFSCA. The directions are issued under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, and Section 13(1) of the IFSCA Act, 2019.
International Financial Services Centres Authority
Circular e.File No. IFSCA-FMPP0BR/13/2023-Banking November 11, 2025
To,
All IFSC Banking Units
Madam / Sir,
Sub: Reporting of Transactions for India’s External Account Statistics – Additional directions
1. This is with reference to the fortnightly reporting of Banking Asset Liability (BAL) statement by IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) through Foreign Exchange Transactions Electronic Reporting System (FETERS) as per the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) circular no. F. No. 722/IFSCA/Banking/2022-23/1, dated September 19, 2022 (hereinafter referred to as “Circular”).
2. As instructed therein, all IBUs are required to provide details of their holdings of foreign currencies to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on a fortnightly basis through the BAL statement.
3. Currently, IBUs are reporting only the foreign currency balances in their Nostro accounts maintained abroad and other investments (fixed deposits, loans, investments in securities, and treasury bills) in the BAL statement.
4. Since IBUs have also started maintaining foreign currency accounts of overseas banks, which are not being currently captured in the fortnightly reporting of BAL statement, the following directions are being issued –
a. IBUs shall report the balances in the foreign currency accounts of overseas banks, held/maintained with the IBU under Vostro accounts in the BAL statement on the BoP portal (https://bop.rbi.org.in/) on fortnightly basis from the second fortnight of November 2025.
b. The revised reporting format is attached as Annexure to this circular.
c. IBUs may follow the instructions indicated below for reporting under Vostro account in the BAL Statement:
i. Vostro account has only one subcomponent, i.e., Current account, under which IBUs need to report either the net credit balance position under Credit (Ct) or the net debit balance position under Debit (Dt) (without negative sign). There should not be any simultaneous entry for Credit and Debit.
ii. IBUs need to report the book value of the balances held by overseas banks/branches and correspondents in the respective currency.
iii. The field “Country” represents the country of the overseas bank which holds the account with the IBU, and “Currency” represents the currency in which the account is maintained.
5. These instructions are in addition to the instructions specified by the IFSCA for such reporting in the Circular and operational instructions issued by the RBI for such reporting.
6. Failure on the part of the IBUs to furnish the mandated information accurately and in a timely manner will be viewed seriously by IFSCA.
7. The directions contained in this circular have been issued by the IFSCA in exercise of powers conferred on it by under section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act,1949 and section 13(1) of International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/-
Supriyo Bhattacharjee
(Chief General Manager)
Annexure
Revised Format of BAL Statement Reporting by IBUs
| Banking Asset Liability (BAL) Statement | |||||||||
| Foreign Currency held abroad by IBUs and balances held in Non-Resident Rupee/ACU Dollar accounts of overseas branches and correspondents as at the end of | |||||||||
| Bank Code | Bank Name | ||||||||
| Report Date | Org/Rev | ||||||||
| Foreign Currency Balances Held Abroad | |||||||||
| Country | Currency | Current Account* | Fixed Deposits | Treasury Bills |
Securities | Loans | Total | ||
| Ct (1) | Dt (2) | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | (1-6) | |||
| Balances held by overseas branches and correspondents in non-resident accounts** | |||||||||
| Country | Currency | Current Account** | |||||||
| Ct (7) | Dt (8) | ||||||||
| *Net balance should be reported in column 1 or 2 as appropriate | |||||||||
| **Net balance should be reported in column 7 or 8 as appropriate | |||||||||
