Differential rates of interest can be paid on single term deposit of Rs.15 lakhs and above and not on the aggregate of individual deposits where the total exceeds Rs.15 lakhs.

Ans: Entities should mandatorily fill the FLA return within the due date. In case the entities do not have their audited balance sheet ready, they may fill the return with the provisional/unaudited numbers. Thereafter, once the audited numbers are ready, request for revision of the previously filed return to RBI needs to be raised. Once approved by RBI, you can revise the previously filed return with audited numbers and re-submit the same to RBI.

The primary responsibility for ensuring that the borrowing is in compliance with the applicable ECB guidelines is that of the borrower concerned. Structures which bypass/ circumvent ECB guidelines in any manner and / or raising borrowings in any other manner which is not permitted / disguising borrowing under the wrap of other kind of transactions and / or contravening provisions of Foreign Exchange Management (Borrowing and Lending in Foreign Exchange) Regulations, 2018 would also invite penal action under FEMA.

Yes. To the extent provisions have not been made against any asset, as required under the Prudential Norms Directions or assessed by the Management, Auditor of the Company or an Inspecting Officer of the Reserve Bank of India, the asset can be considered to be intangible asset. Although the entire asset against which the provisions have not been made does not become intangible asset, the amount of provision required to be made as per the Prudential Norms Directions should be deducted from the Owned Fund of the Company to determine the Net Owned Fund of Rs. 25.00 lakhs required for Registration under the RBI Act.

The existing Deposits of Paytm Payments Bank customers maintained with partner banks can be brought back (sweep-in) to the accounts with Paytm Payments Bank, subject to the ceiling on balance prescribed for a Payments Bank (i.e. ₹2 lakh per individual customer at the end of day). Such sweep-ins for the purpose of making available the balances for use or withdrawal by the customer will continue to be allowed. However, no fresh deposits with partner banks through Paytm Payments Bank will be allowed after March 15, 2024.

Compromise settlement is not available to borrowers as a matter of right; rather it is a discretion to be exercised by the lenders based on their commercial judgement.

The prudential guidelines provide sufficient safeguards with regard to such settlements considered by the lenders:

• All such decisions are required to be taken by lenders as per their Board approved policies, instead of adopting an ad-hoc approach in each case;

• The circular further strengthens the regulatory guidance by mandating that all such cases of compromise settlement involving borrowers classified as fraud or wilful defaulter must be approved by the Board;

• Such settlements shall be without prejudice to the criminal proceeding underway or to be initiated, if under consideration of the lenders against such borrowers;

• As already mentioned, the extant penal provisions continue to remain applicable in such cases.

• Wherever recovery proceedings are pending before a judicial forum, any settlement arrived at with the borrower shall be subject to obtaining a consent decree from the concerned judicial authorities.

• The Boards of lenders have been entrusted with the oversight of the overall trends in approvals of all compromise settlements, including specifically the breakup of accounts classified as fraud, red-flagged, wilful defaulter and quick mortality accounts.

These guidelines will ensure greater transparency of the whole process.

The cross- border inward remittances into India under RDA is primarily on private account. The remitter and the beneficiary should be individuals barring a few exceptions. Remittances through Exchange Houses for financing of trade transactions are also permitted up to certain limit. This scheme is not used for cross-border outward remittances from India.

a. Retail investors, that is, individuals (natural persons) are allowed to open an RDG account. The following are required to open an account:

1. Rupee savings bank account maintained in India.

2. Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Income Tax Department.

3. Any Officially Valid Document (OVD) for Know Your Customer (KYC) purpose.

4. Valid email id.

5. Registered mobile number.

b. Non-Resident retail investors eligible to invest in Government Securities under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

Ans.: The respondent companies can submit their responses on or before July 15 of the survey year.

To facilitate the distribution of banknotes and rupee coins, the Reserve Bank has authorised select scheduled banks to establish currency chests. These are storehouses where banknotes and rupee coins are stocked on behalf of the Reserve Bank for distribution to bank branches in their area of operation. As on February 28, 2025, there were 2691 currency chests.

[The currency chests are expected to distribute banknotes and rupee coins to other bank branches in their area of operation.]

In terms of Section 45-IA of the RBI Act, 1934, no NBFC can commence or carry on business of a non-banking financial institution without a) obtaining a certificate of registration from the Reserve Bank and without having a Net Owned Funds (NOF) of ₹10 crore with effect from October 01, 2022 (NBFCs seeking registration shall have NOF of ₹10 crore ab initio, and existing NBFCs have timeline upto March 31, 2027 to attain NOF of ₹10 crore). However, in terms of the powers conferred upon the Reserve Bank, to obviate dual regulation, certain categories of NBFCs which are regulated by other regulators are exempted from the requirement of registration with the Reserve Bank viz., Alternative Investment Fund/ Merchant Banking companies/ Stock broking companies registered with SEBI; Insurance Company holding a valid Certificate of Registration issued by IRDA; Nidhi companies as notified under Section 620A of the Companies Act, 1956; Chit companies doing the business of chits as defined in clause (b) of Section 2 of the Chit Funds Act, 1982; Stock Exchange or a Mutual Benefit company, etc.

Ans: Public funds are not the same as public deposits. Public funds include public deposits, inter-corporate deposits, bank finance and all funds received whether directly or indirectly from outside sources such as funds raised by issue of Commercial Papers, debentures etc. Indirect receipt of public funds means funds received not directly but through associates and group entities which have access to public funds.

Even though public funds include public deposits as clarified above, it may be noted that CICs cannot accept public deposits. That is one of the eligibility criteria to be  classified as a CIC. It may further be clarified that no NBFC can accept public deposits without specific permission of the Bank even if it holds a Certificate of Registration (CoR) from the Bank.

Clarification: Housing loans to banks’ own employees are not eligible for classification under priority sector lending, irrespective of whether they are extended on commercial terms or at subsidised rates.

Ans: After sending the duly filled in survey schedule (excel based) to the generic email IDs of the Reserve Bank as per the instruction in the survey schedule, the respondent will receive the system-generated acknowledgement. No separate mail will be sent in this regard. If some error is mentioned in the acknowledgement, then the respondent is required to resubmit the form by rectifying the mentioned error. After corrections, the respondent should receive a successful processing acknowledgement email.

As LLPs are not eligible to receive FDI, they cannot raise ECBs.

There is no limit on the remittance amount as well as on the number of remittances. However, there is an upper cap of Rs.15.00 lakh for trade related transactions.

Unsecured debentures Inter-Corporate Deposits (ICDs) Money received in trust Security deposits from employees Equated Monthly Investments (EMI) received in advance against lease/hire purchase finance. Unsecured debentures issued to the shareholders by a public limited company and to the general members of public by public and private limited companies are included in the definition of `public deposit’. However, unsecured debentures issued to other companies and banks/all India financial institutions are not public deposit. The money received in trust is no longer an exempted borrowing and hence forms part of the public deposit. However, other borrowings by way of ICDs, security deposits from employees (provided these are deposited in an account with a bank or a post office, jointly with the employee) and advance receipt of lease or hire purchase instalments, are exempted borrowings and hence fall outside the purview of public deposit.

No. After March 15, 2024, you will not be able to receive any such credits into your account with Paytm Payments Bank. It is suggested that you make alternative arrangements with another bank before March 15, 2024 to avoid inconvenience.

The primary regulatory objective is to enable multiple avenues to lenders to recover the money in default without much delay. Apart from the time value loss, inordinate delays result in asset value deterioration which hampers ultimate recoveries. Compromise settlement is recognized as a valid resolution mechanism under the Prudential Framework on Resolution of Stressed Assets dated June 7, 2019. The imperatives for lenders are no different when it comes to recovery from borrowers classified as fraud or wilful defaulter. Continuing such exposures on the balance sheets of the lenders without resolution due to legal proceedings would lock lenders’ funds in an unproductive asset, which would not be a desirable position. As long as larger policy concerns are suitably addressed and the costs of malafide actions are made to be borne by the perpetrators, early recoveries by lenders should be a preferred option, subject to safeguards. Further, continuation of criminal proceedings underway or to be initiated against the borrowers classified as fraud or wilful defaulter, would ensure that perpetrators of any malafide action do not go scot-free.

Ans: No, the entity cannot report the information as per the account closing period, in case it is different from March closing. Information should be reported for the reference period only, i.e., previous March and latest March, based on the entity’s internal assessment.

Banks are prohibited from employing/ engaging any individual, firm, company, association, institution for collection of deposits or selling of deposit linked products on payment of remuneration or fees or commission in any form or manner except commission paid to agents employed to collect door-to-door deposits under a special scheme.

Ans.: Last two financial year (FY) starting from April YYYY to March YYYY. For eg., FCS survey for the reference period 2021-2023 covers April 2021 to March 2022 and April 2022 to March 2023.

An individual can open only one RDG account. The second holder in a joint RDG account may also open an individual RDG account.