Purpose: This paper aims to examine the role of foreign banks in transmitting global monetary policy shocks to India. Further, the authors try to explore the international bank lending channel and analyze the impact of global monetary policy on Indian macroeconomic variables. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a structural break unit root test and structural vector autoregression on monthly data from 1998 to 2018. Findings: The study finds that the global monetary policy is significantly determining foreign banks’ lending in India; the evidence of a portfolio re-balancing channel in the process of global monetary policy transmission to the Indian economy; the exchange rate is significantly explaining the foreign bank credit dynamism in India; and evidence of international monetary policy spillover to the Indian economy. Originality/value: This is the first attempt to analyze the role of foreign banks in the transmission of global monetary policy shocks to India, where the literature availability is limited. The finding of ineffective domestic monetary policy on foreign bank lending opens the need for an in-depth and diversified analysis of the role of foreign banks in the transmission of domestic monetary policy. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.