New Delhi, Sept. 7 -- Much has already been said about the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) abrupt closure of its special foreign currency non-resident (bank) scheme, a facility to attract dollar deposits from overseas Indians, barely weeks after RBI's near-assurance that it would run its full course until 30 September.

The FCNR(B) window was shut a month ahead of schedule, with no convincing explanation offered. Rather than revisit that controversy, this column asks a different question: what will the scheme actually cost?

To be fair, RBI was not operating in a vacuum. India's balance of payments has been under genuine stress. Net foreign direct investment has collapsed from $44 billion in 2020-21 to virtually zero. Foreign portfolio inve...