No. The banks need not charge a uniform rate of interest even under a consortium arrangement. Each member bank should charge rate of interest on the portion of the credit limits extended by them to the borrowers subject to their BPLR.

All banks are authorized to accept and exchange soiled banknotes for full value. They shall extend the facility of exchange of soiled/mutilated notes to non-customers also.

All branches of commercial banks are authorised to adjudicate mutilated banknotes (which are legal tender) and pay value for these, in terms of the Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Amendment Rules, 2018.

Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks may exchange mutilated and imperfect/defective notes at their option.

The minimum interest an RNBC should pay on deposits should be 5% (to be compounded annually) on the amount deposited in lump sum or at monthly or longer intervals; and 3.5% (to be compounded annually) on the amount deposited under daily deposit scheme. Interest here includes premium, bonus or any other advantage, that an RNBC promises to the depositor by way of return. An RNBC can accept deposits for a minimum period of 12 months and maximum period of 84 months from the date of receipt of such deposit. They cannot accept deposits repayable on demand. However, at present, the only RNBCs in existence (Peerless) has been directed by the Reserve Bank to stop collecting deposits, repay the deposits to the depositor and wind up their RNBC business as their business model is inherently unviable.D. Definition of deposits, Eligible / Ineligible Institutions to accept deposits and Related Matters

1. After logging into the Primary Market Retail Direct platform, select the ‘Primary Market’ option beside the Dashboard, at the top of the page.

2. Select a security to bid from the ‘Auction Watch’ and enter the bid amount in the ‘Bid Entry’ window.

3. Individuals can fund their bid either at the time of bidding or at a later time, but before the closure of bidding/subscription window. Bids which are not funded as on the date of submission of bids to RBI will be cancelled.

4. For making payment for the bids, retail clients can use services like UPI (Transfer or Block) and Net Banking to transfer funds to a designated current account using Payment Gateways linked to the Online Portal.

5. Based on the allotment advice received as a part of the auction result, the allotments will be made to the individual investors.

6. In case of full allotment, each bidder will be allocated the entire Face Value for which bids were submitted. In case of partial allotment, a pro-rata allotment will be made to the bidder based on the partial allocation percentage determined in the auction.

For further details on the biding process, you may refer to the User Manual in the Help section of the Retail Direct Portal.

Ans: If the reporting Indian company invests in equity and/or participating preference shares of overseas company, under the Overseas Direct Investment Scheme in India, i.e. investment in Joint venture or wholly owned subsidiaries abroad, then it is considered as direct investment abroad of the Indian company.

NOTE: Registration guidelines and section-wise FAQs for further guidance to be file the FLA return are available in the FAQs section of the FLAIR portal (https://flair.rbi.org.in/fla/faces/pages/login.xhtml).

Any entity raising INR ECB (including issuance of Rupee denominated bonds overseas) is not permitted to convert the liability arising out of such ECBs into a foreign currency liability in any manner or assume foreign currency risk in any manner by either entering into a derivative contract or otherwise.

Ans: Neither LLPs nor Partnerships are companies and hence have been deliberately excluded from the definition of Group Company. Further, in view of the loose structure and regulatory framework for these entities, it is felt that they should not be included in the definition.

List of Primary Dealers (As on April 01, 2020)

STANDALONE PRIMARY DEALERS	BANK PRIMARY DEALERS
ICICI Securities Primary Dealership Limited ICICI Centre H.T.Parekh Marg Churchgate Mumbai- 400 020 Phone: (022) 22882460/70, 66377421	Bank of America, N.A. One BKC, ‘A’ Wing ‘G’ Block, Bandra Kurla Complex Bandra (E), Mumbai – 400 051 Phone: 022-66323111
Morgan Stanley India Primary Dealer Pvt. Ltd. 18F / 19F One Indiabulls Centre Tower 2, Jupiter Mills Compound Elphinstone Road Mumbai - 400013 Phone : (022) 61181000 Fax : (022) 61181011	Bank Of Baroda Specialised Integrated Treasury 4th & 5th Floor, Baroda Sun Tower, C-34, G-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex Bandra East, Mumbai-400 051 Phone:(022) 66363636 / 67592705
Nomura Fixed Income Securities Pvt. Ltd. Ceejay House, 11th Level Plot F, Shivsagar Estate Dr.Annie Besant Road Worli Mumbai - 400 018 Phone : (022) 40374037 Fax : (022) 40374111	Canara Bank Domestic Back Office Integrated Treasury Wing VI Floor, Canara Bank Building C-14, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex Bandra East Mumbai- 400 051 Phone: (022) 26725126, 123
PNB Gilts Ltd. 5, Sansad Marg New Delhi- 110 001 Phone: Mumbai - (022) 22693315/17 New Delhi - (011) 23325751,22693315/17	Citibank N.A FIFC, 12th floor, C-54 and 55, G block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai – 400 051. Phone:(022) 6175 7187
SBI DFHI Ltd 3rd Floor, Voltas House, 23, J.N.Heredia Marg, Ballard Estate, Mumbai- 400 001 Phone:(022) 22625970/73, 22610490, 66364696	Union Bank of India Treasury Branch, Central Office, Union Bank Bhavan, 3rd Floor, 239, Vidhan Bhavan Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 Ph 022-22892118/22892102
STCI Primary Dealer Limited Marathon Innova, Marathon Nextgen Compound, Off Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel(W), Mumbai- 400 013 Phone:(022) 30031100, 66202261/2200	HDFC Bank Ltd. Treasury Mid Office, 1st Floor,HDFC Bank House Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel Mumbai- 400 013 Phone:(022) 24904702/4935/3899, 66521372/9892975232
Goldman Sachs (India) Capital Markets Pvt. Ltd. 951-A, Rational House, Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400 025 Phone : (022) 66169000	Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corpn. Ltd.(HSBC) Treasury Services 52/60, Mahatma Gandhi Road Mumbai- 400 001 Phone:(022) 22681031/34/33, 22623329/22681031/34/38
	J P Morgan Chase Bank N.A, Mumbai Branch J.P. Morgan Tower Off C.S.T. Road, Kalina Santacruz (East) Mumbai - 400 098 Phone -61573000 Fax- 61573990 & 61573916
	Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. 27BKC, 5th Floor Plot No. C-27, G-Block Bandra Kurla Complex Bandra East Mumbai 400 051. Phone:(022) 6659 6022/6454, 66596235/6454
	Standard Chartered Bank Financial Markets Financial Market Operation Crescenzo, 5th Floor Plot no. C-38 & 39, G – Block Bandra Kurla Complex Mumbai – 400 051 Phone : (022) 61158893
	Axis Bank Ltd. Treasury Operations Corporate Office, 4th Floor, Axis House Bombay Dyeing Compound Pandurang Budhkar Marg Worli, Mumbai - 400 025 Phone- (022) 24254430, 24254434 Fax- (022) 24252400 / 5400
	IDBI Bank Limited IDBI Tower, Cuffe Parade Mumbai- 400 005 Phone- (022) 66263351
	Deutsche Bank AG C-70, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex Mumbai-400051 Phone: (022) 71804444
	Yes Bank Limited Yes Bank Tower, IFC 2, Elphinstone (W), Senapati Bapat Marg, Mumbai-400013 Phone: (022) 33669000

* Bank PDs are those which take up PD business departmentally as part of the bank itself.

** Stand alone PDs are Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) that exclusively take up PD business.

Update to the list of Primary dealers is available on the RBI website at /en/web/rbi/citizen-corner/primary-dealers

With effect from October 10, 2000, banks have been given freedom to formulate transparent policy for charging penal interest with the approval of their Board of Directors. However, in the case of loans to borrowers under priority sector, no penal interest should be charged for loans up to Rs.25,000. Penal interest may be levied for reasons such as default in repayment, non-submission of financial statements, etc. However, the policy on penal interest should be governed by well-accepted principles of transparency, fairness, incentive to services the debt and genuine difficulties of customers.