9 FINANCEOUTLOOKINDIASEPTEMBER, 2026INDIA'S FOREX RESERVES HIT RECORD HIGH ON RBI DOLLAR PUSHINDIA AND CANADA TO SIMPLIFY CROSS-BORDER PAYMENTS FOR INDIAN STUDENTSBANK OF BARODA LAUNCHES UPI GLOBAL QR PAYMENTSINDIAN STARTUP FUNDING: 24 FIRMS RAISE $218.69 MN IN THE LATEST WEEKINDIA'S CASH IN CIRCULATION ROSE 12.5% DESPITE UPI GROWTHIndian startup funding raised $218.69 million in the latest week across 24 deals, comprising 2 growth-stage rounds, 22 early-stage deals and 2 undisclosed rounds. Despite a slight decline in the overall number of startups receiving funding in the week, 7 key hires were announced, 2 mergers and acquisitions were processed, 2 fund launches were announced and 350 employees were laid off. India's digital payments ecosystem continues to expand rapidly, but the country's growing dependence on physical currency is creating a striking contradiction. Despite the widespread use of UPI and QR-based payments, cash in circulation grew 12.5% year-on-year as of July 31, 2026, according to the Reserve Bank of India's latest Bulletin.The pace of India's cash growth accelerated marginally from 12.4% recorded at the end of June. Reserve money, adjusted for changes in the cash reserve ratio, increased 12.6%, while broader money supply grew 14.7%. India's forex reserves climbed to a record high as dollar inflows surged following recent measures by the central bank to attract capital into the country. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) forex reserves gained $12.4 billion to reach an all-time high of $729.3 billion in the week of August 21, according to data released by the central bank on Friday. This surpasses the previous record of $728.5 billion set in February. India and Canada are working on measures to make cross-border payments and remittances easier, a move that could benefit more than 400,000 Indian students studying in Canada and their families back home in India. The issue was discussed dur-ing the first Economic and Finan-cial Dialogue between the two countries in Toronto, where Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sithar-aman met her Canadian coun-terpart, François-Philippe Cham-pagne. The discussions focused on digital payments, financial servic-es, and ways to make it easier for people to send money between India and Canada. Bank of Baroda launched "UPI Global QR Payments" (UPI Global Reverse Acceptance) for international tourists, overseas Indians, and foreign wallet or payment application users from eligible countries, allowing them to make payments across the bank's UPI QR merchant network in India. International visitors can now make QR payments at BoB's UPI QR merchants using their own home-country banking or pay-ment applications. The initiative is expected to reduce the need for visitors to carry cash or exchange foreign currency, offering a more convenient payment experience while travelling in India. expansion on the Central and Western parts of the country. The bank is also hiring around 2,500 employees to support business growth and replace retiring staff, according to reports.On non-performing assets (NPAs), Indian Bank said it aims to bring down gross NPAs to 1.5-1.6% of total advances and net NPAs to 0.15-0.2% by the end of the cur-rent financial year.
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