Ans: If the Indian entity does not have any outstanding investment in respect of inward and outward FDI as on end-March of reporting year, they need not submit the FLA return.

Ans.: Companies, who have inward FDI along with foreign technical collaboration (FTC) agreements can participate in this survey.

The following documents are mandatory to open the RDG account

1. PAN

2. Mobile number

3. E-mail address

4. Scanned copy of your signature

5. Bank account details (by uploading a cancelled cheque or manually entering the details on the portal)

6. Aadhaar number with mobile number linked to it

In addition, you may be required to provide an address proof to complete your Know Your Customer (KYC) process. The following documents are accepted as an address proof - Passport, Driving License, Voter ID, Aadhaar, NREGA job card duly signed by the State Government, Letter issued by the National Population Register containing your name and address.

As per Section 26 of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Bank is liable to pay the value of banknote. This is payable on demand by RBI, being the issuer.

The promissory clause printed on the banknotes i.e., "I promise to pay the bearer the sum of Rupees …” denotes the obligation on the part of the Bank towards the holder of the bank note.

No, the Reserve Bank does not regulate all financial companies. Depending upon the nature of activities, the financial companies may fall under the regulatory purview of other Regulators like SEBI, IRDAI, Government, etc. To name a few, the Merchant Banking Companies/Alternative Investment Fund Company/stock-exchanges/stock brokers/sub-brokers are regulated by Securities and Exchange Board of India, and Insurance companies are regulated by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. Similarly, Chit Fund Companies are regulated by the respective State Governments and Nidhi Companies are regulated by Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. Companies that do financial business but are regulated by other regulators are given specific exemption by the Reserve Bank from its regulatory requirements for avoiding duality of regulation. The categories of NBFCs which are exempted from certain provisions of the RBI Act, 1934 are specified in the ‘Master Direction - Exemptions from the provisions of RBI Act, 1934 dated August 25, 2016.

The statutory provisions governing issuance of bank notes and coins currently in force are the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and the Coinage Act, 2011. Provisions of these Acts do not refer to any standard value of rupee/ coin. The earlier statutes relating to paper currency and coins have been repealed.

Further, in terms of section 26 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, every bank note shall be legal tender at any place in India in payment or on account for the amount expressed therein and shall be guaranteed by the Central Government.

Besides, refund of value of a banknote shall be determined and done in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Rules, 2009 [As amended by Reserve Bank of India (Note Refund) Amendment Rules, 2018] read with the “Master Directions on Facility for Exchange of Notes and Coins” as issued from time to time by the Reserve Bank of India.

Clarification: Foreign banks with less than 20 branches are not allowed to buy PSLC General for achieving their 8% target of lending to sectors other than exports. However, such banks are allowed to buy PSLC Agriculture, PSLC Micro Enterprises and PSLC Small and Marginal Farmer for the same.

Ans: If an entity has received only share application money and does not have any foreign direct investment or overseas direct investment outstanding as on end-March of the latest FY, it is not required to fill the FLA return.

Ans: A consolidated data at the entity level, covering all the branches/offices in India, should be furnished.

Ans.: In case the company does not have any FTC during the survey reference period, then they have to submit the survey schedule of FCS survey by filling Part I and II of the form.

Ans: Based on the feedback received from banks and taking into account the disruptions caused by COVID-19, it has been decided to extend the time available for deployment of funds under the TLTRO 2.0 scheme from 30 working days to 45 working days from the date of the operation. Funds that are not deployed within this extended time frame will be charged interest at the prevailing policy repo rate plus 200 bps for the number of days such funds remain un-deployed. The incremental interest liability will have to be paid along with regular interest at the time of maturity.

Banknotes in India are currently being issued in the denomination of ₹10, ₹20, ₹50, ₹100 ₹200, ₹500, and ₹2000*. These notes are called banknotes as they are issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The printing of notes in the denominations of ₹2 and ₹5 has been discontinued and these denominations have been coinised as the cost of printing and servicing these banknotes was not commensurate with their life. However, such banknotes issued earlier can still be found in circulation and these banknotes continue to be legal tender. ₹1 notes are issued by the Government of India from time to time and such notes including those issued in the past also continue to be legal tender for transactions.

*₹2000 denomination notes continue to be legal tender. For more details, please refer to our press release 2023-2024/851 dated September 01, 2023 (https://website.rbi.org.in/web/rbi/-/press-releases/withdrawal-of-%E2%82%B92000-denomination-banknotes-status-56301).

NBFCs are categorized (a) in terms of the type of liabilities into Deposit and Non-Deposit accepting NBFCs; (b) regulatory structure of NBFCs under Scale Based Regulation into NBFC-Base Layer, NBFC-Middle Layer, NBFC-Upper Layer, and NBFC-Top Layer (as detailed in FAQ no.8 above); and (c) by the kind of activity they conduct.

Based on the type of activities they conduct, the different types of NBFCs are as follows:

I. Investment and Credit Company (ICC): ICC means any company which is a financial institution carrying on as its principal business - asset finance, the providing of finance whether by making loans or advances or otherwise for any activity other than its own and the acquisition of securities; and is not any other category of NBFCs as defined by the Reserve Bank in any of its Master Directions.

II. Housing Finance Company (HFC): HFC shall mean a company that fulfils the following conditions:

(a) It is an NBFC whose financial assets, in the business of providing finance for housing, constitute at least 60% of its total assets (netted off by intangible assets). Housing finance for this purpose shall mean providing finance as stated at clauses (a) to (k) of Paragraph 4.1.16 of the Master Direction – Non-Banking Financial Company – Housing Finance Company (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2021.

(b) Out of the total assets (netted off by intangible assets), not less than 50% should be by way of housing finance for individuals as stated at clauses (a) to (e) of Paragraph 4.1.16 of the aforementioned master directions for HFCs.

III. Infrastructure Finance Company (IFC): IFC is a non-banking finance company (a) which deploys at least 75 per cent of its total assets towards infrastructure lending.

IV. Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF-NBFC): IDF-NBFC means a non-deposit taking NBFC which is permitted to (a) refinance post commencement operations date (COD) infrastructure projects that have completed at least one year of satisfactory commercial operations; and (b) finance toll operate transfer (TOT) projects as the direct lender.

V. Core Investment Company (CIC): CIC is a NBFC carrying on the business of acquisition of shares and securities which satisfies the following conditions:

(a) It holds not less than 90% of its net assets in the form of investment in equity shares, preference shares, debt or loans in group companies;

(b) Its investments in the equity shares (including instruments compulsorily convertible into equity shares within a period not exceeding 10 years from the date of issue) in group companies and units of Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) only as sponsor constitutes not less than 60% of its net assets;

(c) Provided that the exposure of such CICs towards InvITs shall be limited to their holdings as sponsors and shall not, at any point in time, exceed the minimum holding of units and tenor prescribed in this regard by SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014, as amended from time to time. It does not trade in its investments in shares, debt or loans in group companies except through block sale for the purpose of dilution or disinvestment;

(d) it does not carry on any other financial activity referred to in Section 45I(c) and 45I(f) of the RBI act, 1934 except (i) investment in bank deposits, money market instruments, government securities, bonds or debentures issued by group companies; (ii) granting of loans to group companies; and (iii) issuing of guarantees on behalf of group companies;

(e) Its asset size is ₹ 100 crore or above; and

(f) It accepts public funds

VI. Micro Finance Institution (NBFC-MFI): “NBFC-MFI” means a non-deposit taking NBFC which has a minimum of 75 percent of its total assets deployed towards “microfinance loans” as defined under Reserve Bank of India (Regulatory Framework for Microfinance Loans) Directions, 2022 as under:

(a) A microfinance loan is defined as a collateral-free loan given to a household having annual household income up to ₹3,00,000. For this purpose, the household shall mean an individual family unit, i.e., husband, wife and their unmarried children.

(b) All collateral-free loans, irrespective of end use and mode of application/ processing/ disbursal (either through physical or digital channels), provided to low-income households, i.e., households having annual income up to ₹3,00,000, shall be considered as microfinance loans.

(c) To ensure collateral-free nature of the microfinance loan, the loan shall not be linked with a lien on the deposit account of the borrower.

(d) The NBFCs shall have a board-approved policy to provide the flexibility of repayment periodicity on microfinance loans as per borrowers’ requirement.

VII. Non-Banking Financial Company – Factors (NBFC-Factors): NBFC-Factor is a non-deposit taking NBFC engaged in the principal business of factoring. The financial assets in the factoring business should constitute at least 50 percent of its total assets and its income derived from factoring business should not be less than 50 percent of its gross income.

VIII. Mortgage Guarantee Companies (MGC): MGC means a company registered as mortgage guarantee company which primarily transacts the business of providing mortgage guarantee i.e., a guarantee for the repayment of an outstanding housing loan and interest accrued thereon up to the guaranteed amount to a creditor institution, on the occurrence of a trigger event. A mortgage guarantee company shall be deemed to primarily transact the business of providing mortgage guarantee when at least 90% of the business turnover is mortgage guarantee business or at least 90% of the gross income is from mortgage guarantee business.

IX. Standalone Primary Dealers (SPDs): SPDs are primarily NBFCs which have been granted authorisation to undertake the Primary Dealer activities in Government Securities. SPDs may undertake a set of core and non-core activities which are clearly defined. SPDs support G- Sec market, (both primary and secondary) through various obligations like participating in primary auctions, market making in G- Secs, predominance of investment in G-Secs, achieving minimum secondary market turnover ratio, etc.

X. Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC): NOFHC means a non-deposit taking NBFC referred to in the "Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector" dated February 22, 2013, issued by the Reserve Bank, which holds the shares of a banking company and the shares of all other financial services companies in its group, whether regulated by the Reserve Bank or by any other financial regulator, to the extent permissible under the applicable regulatory prescriptions.

XI. NBFC – Account Aggregator (NBFC-AA): NBFC-AA means a non-banking financial company as notified under in sub-clause (iii) of clause (f) of section 45-I of the RBI Act, that undertakes the business of an account aggregator, for a fee or otherwise. The “business of an account aggregator” means the business of providing under a contract, the service of, retrieving or collecting such financial information pertaining to its customer, as may be specified by the Reserve Bank from time to time; and consolidating, organizing and presenting such information to the customer or any other financial information user as may be specified by the Bank; Provided that, the financial information pertaining to the customer shall not be the property of the Account Aggregator, and not be used in any other manner.

XII. NBFC – Peer to Peer Lending Platform (NBFC-P2P): NBFC-P2P means a non-banking institution which carries on the business of a Peer to Peer Lending Platform i.e., acting as intermediary providing the services of loan facilitation via online medium or otherwise, to the participants of the platform.

Clarification: A bank can purchase PSLCs as per its requirements. Further, a bank is permitted to issue PSLCs upto 50 percent of previous year’s PSL achievement without having the underlying in its books. This is applicable category-wise. The net position of PSLCs (PSLC Buy – PSLC Sell) has to be considered while reporting the quarterly and annual priority sector returns. However, with regard to ascertaining the underlying assets, as on March 31st, the bank must have met the priority sector target by way of the sum of outstanding priority sector portfolio and net of PSLCs issued and purchased.