Regulating Commercial Banking

The Reserve Bank had undertaken a review of the extant guidelines on the prudential norms on declaration of dividend and remittance of profits by foreign banks operating in branch mode in India. Accordingly, a draft of the revised framework was issued for public comments on January 2, 2024. However, based on the stakeholder feedback and consultations, the following draft Directions proposing a new methodology for computing the maximum eligible dividend payout are being issued for public comments:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released Supervisory Data Quality Index (sDQI) for SCBs for September 2025. It measures data quality in terms of the Accuracy, Timeliness, Completeness and Consistency in the submission of returns. The objective of sDQI is to assess the adherence to the principles enunciated in the Master Direction on Filing of Supervisory Returns 2024.

The Reserve Bank of India had, on October 03, 2025, issued eight draft Directions on Lending to Related Parties, viz.,: (i) Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Lending to Related Parties) Directions, 2025 (ii) Reserve Bank of India (Small Finance Banks – Lending to Related Parties) Directions, 2025 (iii) Reserve Bank of India (Regional Rural Banks – Lending to Related Parties) Directions, 2025 (iv) Reserve Bank of India (Local Area Banks – Lending to Related Parties) Directions, 2025 (v) Reserve Bank of India (Urban Co-operative Banks – Lending to Related Parties) Directions, 2025 (vi) Reserve Bank of India (Rural Co-operative Banks – Lending to Related Parties) Directions, 2025 (vii) Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies – Lending to Related Parties) Directions, 2025 and (viii) Reserve Bank of India (All India Financial Institutions – Lending to Related Parties) Directions, 2025 seeking feedback from stakeholders. The draft directions were aimed primarily at providing a harmonised, principle-based framework to be adopted by REs while lending to related parties, suitably rationalising the existing provisions.