New Delhi draws in $73 billion in 11 weeks, powered by special deposits for non-resident Indians

The U.S. dollar was on the defensive early on Wednesday after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell bolstered wagers on an interest rate cut this month.Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesNew Delhi's bid to attract foreign funds through a special scheme has helped power $73 billion in inflows in the last 11 weeks, driven by the incentives offered to non-resident Indians for making foreign currency deposits in Indian banks.The move was aimed at shoring up the Indian rupee that continues to stay weak, amid a rising energy import bill and exodus of foreign capital. Despite the recent spike in energy prices, the rupee has been relatively stable as these inflows have provided headroom to the Reserve Bank of India to perform currency intervention, Gaura Sengupta, chief economist at India's IDFC First Bank, told CNBC.The RBI is using these inflows to minimize the "volatility" but not to "influence the direction" of the local currency, she said, adding that her firm pegs the rupee to settle at around 96.50 per dollar by March 2027. It was trading at 95.7 on Tuesday.The country's finance ministry has called the incentivized deposit scheme, also known as Foreign Currency Non-Resi...