Beyond FDs: The Best Alternative Investments in India for NRIs This Year (AIFs, PMS & More)

19 January 2026

Most NRIs don’t make bad decisions. They make monetary decisions that feel comfortable. FD’s protect the nominal rupee value. They do not protect global purchasing power.

Money earned abroad is sent home and parked where generations before them parked it. Parents approve. Bank managers reassure. Statements arrive on time. There’s no volatility, no drama, no uncomfortable conversations.

From afar, these choices look prudent, stable, low stress and safe. The problem only shows up later when returns are translated back into dollars, dirhams, or pounds. At that point, the outcome feels oddly disappointing.

RBI data shows that between 2010 and 2025, NRI bank deposits (NRE, NRO, FCNR) grew from $55 billion to $165–170 billion, making bank FDs and short-term debt the dominant allocation, well ahead of residential real estate at an estimated $25 billion.

                                
     (Source: RBI, Times of India)

The biggest risk for an NRI investor is not volatility or a bad year in equities. It’s being invested in an economy with a depreciating currency and not demanding enough return.

Ask most NRIs what worries them about investing in India, and you’ll hear the same answers: equity volatility, governance issues, political risk, or “what if there’s a bad year.” Over the past 20 years, the Indian rupee has depreciated by roughly 3.6–3.8% per annum, moving from around ₹44 to over ₹91 per dollar, quietly eroding nearly half of NRI capital in global terms. NRIs have lost half their capital in a slow, grinding way to currency depreciation.Every rupee-denominated return must first overcome this drag before it can be called real wealth creation. Most portfolios never demand that.IGNORANCE IS BLISS. CURRENCY MATH ISN’T

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