India saw a drop in foreign direct investment (FDI) in August, with gross inflows standing at $6 billion, down from a four-year high of $11.11 billion in July. Meanwhile, foreign companies increased repatriation by 30% month-on-month to $4.9 billion. As a result, net FDI for August turned negative for the first time in this fiscal year, recording outflows of $616 million compared with $5 billion inflows in July, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest monthly bulletin.Between the April and July 2025 period, Singapore, the US, Mauritius, the UAE, and the Netherlands were the top sources of FDI, together making up 76% of total inflows. Over 74% of the equity FDI went into manufacturing, computer services, business services, communication services, and electricity generation and distribution.To stabilize the rupee, RBI stepped up forex market interventions, net selling $7.7 billion in August compared with $2.5 billion in July. The rupee breached 88 to a dollar for the first time in late August amid US tariff uncertainties. The real effective exchange rate (REER), which compares the rupee to a basket of six major currencies, stood at 95.84 in September, indicating the currency was undervalued by 4.16%, according to ET.Remittances and NRI depositesOutward remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) increased for the second consecutive month, reaching $2.6 billion in August, up 7.7% from July. Travel spending, the largest component, rose to $1.6 billion, while education expenses abroad jumped 39% to $319 million. Spending on property, investments in equity and debt, and gifts all fell compared with July. The LRS allows residents to send up to $250,000 abroad per year for approved transactions, as per an ET report.In July, the outstanding NRI deposits remained at $167.9 billion, down from $168.3 billion in June. FCNR(B) deposits remained steady at $33.6 billion, while NRE deposits fell to $102 billion from $102.8 billion. Inflows from NRI deposits in the first four months of the fiscal year totalled $4.7 billion, down from $5.8 billion in the same period last year.