Infrastructure Finance Companies can maintain risk weight at 50% for assets covering PPP and post commercial operations date (COD) projects which have completed at least one year of satisfactory commercial operations and which are backed by a buyback guarantee by a designated Project / Statutory authority under a Tripartite Agreement.

Ans: EMI programmes on Credit Card are governed specifically by Para 6(b)(iii)¹ of the ‘Master Direction on Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct, 2022’. Such transactions shall not be covered under the Guidelines on Digital Lending. However other loan products offered on Credit Cards which are not covered/ envisaged under the aforesaid para of the Master Direction shall be governed by the stipulations laid down under the Guidelines on Digital Lending. Further, the Guidelines will also be applicable to all loans offered on Debit Card, including EMI programmes.

Ans: There is no restriction on transfer of loan accounts classified as fraud by lenders, which was the position even before the issue of MD-TLE, except for ARCs. Lenders can transfer such exposures to permitted transferees as per their board approved policies in compliance with Clause 73.

Ans: As to what is market value, please refer to the answer given against Q1 and 3.

There have been complaints that life certificates submitted over the counter of pension paying branches are misplaced causing delay in payment of monthly pensions. In order to alleviate the hardships faced by pensioners, agency banks were instructed to mandatorily issue duly signed acknowledgements. They were also requested to consider entering the receipt of life certificates in their CBS and issue a system generated acknowledgement which would serve the twin purpose of acknowledgement as well as real time updation of records. Banks may provide digital acknowledgements in respect of digital life certificates submitted by the pensioners.

Reserve Bank of India has deregulated interest rates on advances including education loans sanctioned by Scheduled Commercial Banks. The interest rates are determined by banks with the approval of their respective Board of Directors, subject to regulatory guidelines on interest rate on advances contained in RBI’s Master Direction- Reserve Bank of India (Interest Rate on Advances) Directions, 2016 as updated from time to time.

Default in repayment by the borrower is also a type of non-compliance of material terms and conditions of loan repayment contract by the borrower and penalty, if charged, for such default may only be levied in the form of penal charges and not penal interest. Such penal charges shall be reasonable and levied by the lenders only on the amount under default in a non-discriminatory manner as per their Board approved policy. Further, it must be ensured that there is no capitalization of the penal charges i.e., no further interest computed on such charges.

Ans. No. As the money belongs to the minor child and not the bank’s staff, additional interest cannot be paid, in terms of paragraph 9.1.6 of these Directions.

An RBI Ombudsman is a senior official of RBI appointed by RBI to redress the complaints from customers of the REs against “deficiency in service”, as defined under Clause 3(1)(g) of the RB-IOS, 2021. “Deficiency in service” means a shortcoming or an inadequacy in any financial service or such other services related thereto, which the RE is required to provide statutorily or otherwise, which may or may not result in financial loss or damage to the customer.

Ans.:  Once the survey is launched, MF companies will receive an email from RBI along with the soft copy of the survey schedule (Schedule-4) in excel format as attachment. The company should use this survey schedule to fill in the details. The filled-in survey schedule (Schedule-4) in excel format (.xls format) should be sent by email to mf@rbi.org.in. No other attachments should be forwarded along with the MF survey schedule.

Ans.: The reference period of an ITES survey round is the immediately preceding financial year (April-March)

Ans: In cases where withdrawal of FMR / removal of name(s) of perpetrator(s) is necessitated due to Court directions, REs may arrange to withdraw FMR / remove name(s) of perpetrator(s) immediately. Such cases shall subsequently be placed before the official in the rank of WTD for information.

جواب. غیر بینک اداروں کو وھائٹ لیبل اے ٹی ایم لگانے کی اجازت دینے کا استدلالیہ ہے کہ خاص طور پر دیہی علاقوں میں / بڑھتی ہوئی کسٹمر سروس کیلئے اے ٹی ایم کے جغرافیائی پھیلاؤ میں اضافہ کیا جائے۔

Ans. A resident of India, who has gone out of India on a temporary visit may bring into India at the time of his return from any place outside India (other than Nepal and Bhutan), currency notes of Government of India and Reserve Bank of India notes up to an amount not exceeding Rs.25,000. A person (not being a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh) may bring into India from Nepal or Bhutan, currency notes of Government of India and Reserve Bank of India notes, in denomination not exceeding Rs.100; provided that an individual travelling to India from Nepal or Bhutan can carry notes of denominations of above ₹100, up to a total limit of ₹25,000. Any person resident outside India, not being a citizen of Pakistan and Bangladesh and also not a traveller coming from and going to Pakistan and Bangladesh, and visiting India may bring into India currency notes of Government of India and Reserve Bank of India notes up to an amount not exceeding Rs.25,000 while entering only through an airport.

Answer: The term correspondent banking relationship acts as an intermediary or agent, facilitating wire transfers, conducting business transactions, accepting deposits and gathering documents on behalf of another bank. Correspondent banks are most likely to be used by domestic banks to service transactions that either originate or are completed in foreign countries. Domestic banks also use correspondent banks to gain access to foreign financial markets and to serve international clients without having to open branches abroad.

Ans. No, if an existing KYC compliant customer of an RE desires to open another account or avail any other product/ service from the same RE, he is not required to submit any KYC document unless there is a change in the information with respect to his identity and/ or address.

Response: An eligible depositor can open a Gold Deposit Account with any of the designated banks after meeting the KYC norms. Generally, deposits under the scheme shall be made at the CPTC/GMS Mobilisation, Collection & Testing Agent (GMCTA) which would then test the purity of the customers’ gold in their presence and issue deposit receipts of the standard gold of 995 fineness to the depositor and also inform the customers’ respective bank about acceptance of deposit. The designated bank will credit Short-Term Bank Deposit (STBD) account of the customer, as is applicable, either on the same day of receipt of deposit receipt by the depositor or within 30 days of deposit of gold at CPTC/GMCTA (regardless of whether the depositor submits the receipt or not), whichever is earlier.

Thereafter, the interest on deposits will start accruing from date of conversion of gold deposited into tradable gold bars or 30 days after receipt of gold at the CPTC/GMCTA, whichever is earlier.

Answer: Opening of accounts by individuals/ entities of Pakistan nationality/ ownership and entities of Bangladesh ownership requires prior approval of the Reserve Bank.

However, individuals of Bangladesh nationality can open an NRO account subject to the individual(s) holding a valid visa and valid residential permit issued by Foreigner Registration Office (FRO)/ Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) concerned.

Further, citizens of Bangladesh/Pakistan belonging to minority communities in those countries, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians residing in India and who have been granted Long Term Visa (LTV) or whose application for LTV is under consideration, are permitted to open only one NRO account with an AD bank in India subject to the conditions mentioned in Notification No. FEMA 5(R)/2016-RB dated April 01, 2016, as updated from time to time. The opening of such NRO accounts will be subject to reporting of the details of the accounts opened by the concerned Authorised bank, to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on a quarterly basis as instructed vide AP (DIR Series) Circular No. 28 dated March 28, 2019.

Priority sector lending include only those sectors as part of the priority sector, that impact large sections of the population, the weaker sections and the sectors which are employment-intensive such as agriculture, and Micro and Small enterprises. Detailed guidelines on Priority sector lending are available in our Master Directions - Reserve Bank of India (Priority Sector Lending – Targets and Classification) Directions, 2025 dated March 24, 2025 and updated from time to time.

The Inter-operable Regulatory Sandbox (IoRS) provides a common window for innovators to test hybrid financial products/ services falling within the regulatory ambit of more than one financial sector regulator. By eliminating the need to separately engage with different regulators, IoRS simplifies testing processes and fosters innovation in the financial ecosystem.