The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) on August 20, 2026, notified regarding the Monitoring of transactions in accounts of Non-resident Indians (NRIs).
The following has been stated:
• It has advised Heads/CEOs of IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) to remain vigilant against frauds involving NRI accounts, particularly those involving loans raised against customers’ fixed deposits without their knowledge. As of June 30, 2026, 30,309 NRI bank accounts were maintained with IBUs, holding deposits of approximately USD 1.96 billion, with IBUs also providing loan accounts to facilitate placement of deposits under the FCNR(B) scheme.
• The guidance highlights fraud incidents where insiders or contractual staff allegedly use forged documents to create loans against customers’ fixed deposits and transfer the proceeds to other accounts, often with the involvement of other insiders.
• Key vulnerabilities identified include breach of privileged access, shared passwords/credentials, inadequate monitoring of dormant accounts, weak supervision and audit processes, and insufficient transaction-level monitoring. IFSCA also emphasised the need to ensure that NRI customers receive real-time SMS/email alerts and independent confirmations whenever action is taken against their fixed deposits.
• IBUs are reminded that existing internet-banking requirements already mandate SMS/email alerts for every transaction and dual-layer authentication through hardware tokens and/or OTPs for transactions initiated from IBU accounts. Heads/CEOs of IBUs have therefore been advised to strengthen vigilance and fraud-monitoring mechanisms and to share the guidance with the members of the Governing Body of the IBU.
[Notification no. - IFSCA-FMPP0BR/17/2026-Banking]
