The applicant company is required to apply online on https://pravaah.rbi.org.in and also submit a physical copy of the application along with the necessary documents as per the process prescribed by the Reserve Bank vide its Press Release 2015-2016/2935 dated June 17, 2016 to the  Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Regulation, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, 2nd  Floor, Main Office Building, Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Fort, Mumbai-400 001.

In terms of Section 22 of the Act, Reserve Bank has the sole right to issue banknotes in India. Section 25 states that the design, form and material of bank notes shall be such as may be approved by the Central Government after consideration of the recommendations made by the Central Board of RBI.

The Reserve Bank, in consultation with the Central Government and other stake holders, estimates the quantity of banknotes that are likely to be needed denomination-wise in a year and places indents with the various currency printing presses for supply of banknotes. The Reserve Bank, in terms of its clean note policy, endeavours to ensure circulation of good quality banknotes to the members of public. With this objective in view, the banknotes received back from circulation at its Issue Offices and Currency Chests are examined and only notes considered fit for circulation are reissued while the others (soiled and mutilated) are destroyed.

In respect of coins, the role of RBI is limited to distribution of coins that are supplied by Government of India (GoI). The GoI is responsible for designing and minting of coins in various denominations as per the Coinage Act, 2011.

Ans: For the purposes of determining whether a company is a CIC, ‘companies in the group’ have been exhaustively defined in para 3 (1) (v) of   of Master Direction DoR(NBFC).PD.003/03.10.119/2016-17 dated August 25, 2016 as “an arrangement involving two or more entities related to each other through any of the following relationships: Subsidiary – parent (defined in terms of AS 21), Joint venture (defined in terms of AS 27), Associate (defined in terms of AS 23), Promoter–promotee [as provided in the SEBI (Acquisition of Shares and Takeover) Regulations, 1997] for listed companies, a related party (defined in terms of AS 18), common brand name, and investment in equity shares of 20 percent and above.” 

Ans.: The Reserve Bank will send emails to all the eligible entities from generic email IDs of the Reserve Bank to notify them about the launch of the FCS survey for the latest reference period. Entities are required to fill in the latest survey schedule attached along with the mail and send to the generic email IDs of the Reserve Bank as per the instruction given in the survey schedule.

Ans: The CPIS is conducted by the Reserve Bank half yearly to collect the required details of the reporting entities as on end-March and end-September of a FY. In general, the survey is launched for end-March and end-September position on June 01 and December 01 of that year respectively.

Clarification: As per extant guidelines, SMF includes individuals, SHGs, JLGs, Farmers’ Producer Companies (FPC) and Co-operatives of farmers with the accompanying criteria of membership by number and land-holding. Therefore, loans to partnership firms/co-borrowers or any director of a company holding agriculture land upto 2 hectares are not eligible to be classified under the SMF category of PSL.

Clarification: As per extant guidelines, priority sector loans are eligible for classification as loans to minority communities as per the list notified by the GoI from time to time. The same may be read with Master Circular- Credit Facilities to Minority Communities which at para 2.2 states “In the case of a partnership firm, if the majority of the partners belong to one or the other of the specified minority communities, advances granted to such partnership firms may be treated as advances granted to minority communities. Further, if the majority beneficial ownership in a partnership firm belongs to the minority community, then such lending can be classified as advances to the specified communities. A company has a separate legal entity and hence advances granted to it cannot be classified as advances to the specified minority communities”

Clarification: Declaration by the customer in the application form would suffice for classifying credit facilities to Minorities/SCs/STs under Weaker Sections. However, it needs to be ensured that, the loans should first be eligible for classification under priority sector lending as per underlying activity.

Clarification: Banks may rely on a combination of auditors’ certification provided by the originating entity and conduct of sample check by their own staff or by an auditor for the purpose. This may be suitably built into their internal policy.

No. As defined in the circular, technical write-off refers to cases where the NPAs remain outstanding at borrowers’ loan account level, but are derecognised by the lenders only for accounting purposes. Technical write-off is a normal banking practice undertaken by the lenders to cleanse the balance sheets of bad debts which are either considered unrecoverable or whose recovery is likely to consume disproportionate resources of the lenders. However, such technical write-offs do not entail any waiver of claims against the borrower and thus the lenders’ right to recovery is not undermined in any manner. Therefore, the defaulting borrowers are not benefited in any manner and their legal obligation as well as the costs of such defaults for them remain unchanged vis-à-vis the position prior to technical write-offs.

The circular only provides clarity on definition of technical write-off and a broad guidance on the process to be followed by the lenders for technical write-offs, which will ensure consistency in the approach followed by various lenders.

Ans: Yes, entities can fill the FLA return even after due date, after taking approval from RBI. But in that case, penalty clause may be invoked on the entity for late submission.

The RBI Retail Direct Online Portal will facilitate the following:

1. Buying Government securities through primary auctions (non-competitive segment only).

2. Buying and selling Government securities in the secondary market.

3. Buying and selling Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGBs) in the primary and secondary market.

4. Investor services such as account statement, nomination facility, pledge/lien, gift transactions, grievance redressal, and managing profile like contact details etc.

The foreign equity holders as defined at Paragraph 1.11 of the Master Direction No. 5 on ‘External Commercial Borrowings, Trade Credits and Structured Obligations dated March 26, 2019 (MD) are eligible to lend for the end-uses given at Paragraph 2.1.viii(d), 2.1.viii(e) and 2.1.viii(f) of the MD. For end-uses, other than those in the negative list, recognised lenders are given at Paragraph 2.1.iv of the MD.

The application form and an indicative checklist of the documents required to be submitted along with the application is available on Reserve Bank’s website under NBFC Forms.

Ans: LLPs and Partnerships are not companies as per Section 3 of Companies Act 2013. Hence, they cannot be included in the definition of Group Company.

Only investments in companies registered under Section 3 of the Companies Act 2013 would be regarded as investments in Group companies for the purpose of calculating 90% investment in Group companies. Moreover, in view of the loose structure and regulatory framework of LLPs/ Partnerships, CICs are prohibited from contributing capital to any partnership firm or to be partners in partnership firms including LLPs

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.

Ans: In general, the due date for participating in CPIS for end-March and end-September position is July 15 and December 31 of that year respectively.

The information about indent and supply of notes and coins or currency/coins in circulation is available on our website www.rbi.org.in, at the following link https://rbi.org.in/web/rbi/publications/reports/annual_report.

Clarification: The banks are required to submit a request to Financial Inclusion and Development Department, Central Office, RBI at fiddpsd@rbi.org.in to obtain registration for PSLC trading by submitting a) DEA Fund Code b) Customer identification number and c) RBI Current Account number.

The circular is intended to achieve the following objectives:

1. It rationalises the existing regulatory guidance to banks on compromise settlements, consolidating various instructions issued over the years. It also tightens some of the related provisions and ensures greater transparency.

2. By providing a clear regulatory framework, it enables other regulated entities, particularly cooperative banks, to undertake compromise settlements as part of the normal resolution efforts.

3. It provides clarity on definition of technical write-off and provides a broad guidance on the process to be followed by the regulated entities for technical write-offs, which is a normal banking practice.

4. As a disincentive to both the lenders and the borrowers, it introduces the concept of cooling period for normal cases of compromise settlement during which the lender undertaking settlement shall not take any fresh exposure on the borrower entity. In case of borrower accounts classified as wilful defaulter or fraud, the debarment to obtain fresh finance, as explained at (2) above, will apply.

1. Eligible Investors may login to https://rbiretaildirect.org.in and register using the Registration link to begin the account opening process.

2. To open an account, the investor will have to furnish details like full name, PAN, mobile number, e-mail address, residential address, savings bank account number, etc. and specify a login name. Mobile number and email address will be authenticated using OTP and all further customer requests and services will be OTP based.

3. For joint accounts, the PAN, e-mail address and phone number of both holders will be required.

4. Once these details have been provided, you will get a reference number to track your application.

5. You may now initiate your Know Your Customer (KYC) verification process.

6. In case of joint accounts, the KYC verification will be done for both the holders.

7. It will be mandatory for the investor to fill in the nomination details at the time of opening of the account.

8. The savings bank account of the customer will be linked to their Retail Direct account by crediting a token amount into their bank account and verifying the same.

9. Once the KYC is successful, an RDG account will be opened in the name of the investor(s).

10. Information related to account number, login id & password to access the Online Portal will be made available to the customer on their registered e-mail id.

11. In case of KYC failures, the individual can make new application or resubmit application after making necessary changes.

Ans: Yes, entities can modify the already submitted FLA return after taking the approval from RBI.