FAQ Page 1 - RBI - Reserve Bank of India
Business restrictions imposed on Paytm Payments Bank Limited vide Press Releases dated January 31 and February 16, 2024
Bank Accounts with Paytm Payments Bank
Yes. Refunds, cashbacks, sweep-in from partner banks or interest are permitted credits into your account even after March 15, 2024
Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey – India
Eligible entities and requirements to report under CPIS
Ans: Yes, since AIFs are considered under non-banking financial institutions.
FAQs on Master Directions on Priority Sector Lending Guidelines
C. Agriculture
Clarification: The PSL guidelines are activity and beneficiary specific and are not based on type of collateral. Therefore, bank loans given to individuals/ businesses for undertaking agriculture activities do not automatically become ineligible for priority sector classification, only on account of the fact that underlying asset is gold jewellery/ornament etc. It may, however, be noted that as per FIDD Circular dated February 7, 2019 and updated from time to time, it has been advised that banks may waive margin requirements for agricultural loans upto ₹1.6 lakh. Therefore, bank should have extended the loan based on scale of finance and assessment of credit requirement for undertaking the agriculture activity and not solely based on available collateral in the form of gold. Further, as applicable to all loans under PSL, banks should put in place proper internal controls and systems to ensure that the loans extended under priority sector are for approved purposes and the end use is continuously monitored.
Clarification: As per Annex-III of Master Directions on Priority Sector Lending (PSL) dated September 4, 2020, transportation is an eligible activity under indicative list of permissible activities under Food Processing Sector. However, while classifying any facility to transporters for purchasing Commercial Vehicles under “Food & Agro-processing” category, it needs to be ensured that the transporter is using the vehicle exclusively for transportation of food & agro-processed products or is a type of vehicle which is specifically used for “Food & Agro-processing” e.g. cold storage trucks, vans etc. If the commercial vehicle is also used for transportation of products other than those related to food & agro processing, the facility shall not be eligible for classification under ‘Food & Agro-processing’ category. In such cases, the same may be classified under MSME (Services), if it meets the conditions prescribed for the same in our Master Direction on PSL.
Framework for Compromise Settlements and Technical Write-offs
A. COMPROMISE SETTLEMENT IN WILFUL DEFAULT AND FRAUD CASES
Compromise settlement is not available to borrowers as a matter of right; rather it is a discretion to be exercised by the lenders based on their commercial judgement.
The prudential guidelines provide sufficient safeguards with regard to such settlements considered by the lenders:
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All such decisions are required to be taken by lenders as per their Board approved policies, instead of adopting an ad-hoc approach in each case;
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The circular further strengthens the regulatory guidance by mandating that all such cases of compromise settlement involving borrowers classified as fraud or wilful defaulter must be approved by the Board;
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Such settlements shall be without prejudice to the criminal proceeding underway or to be initiated, if under consideration of the lenders against such borrowers;
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As already mentioned, the extant penal provisions continue to remain applicable in such cases.
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Wherever recovery proceedings are pending before a judicial forum, any settlement arrived at with the borrower shall be subject to obtaining a consent decree from the concerned judicial authorities.
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The Boards of lenders have been entrusted with the oversight of the overall trends in approvals of all compromise settlements, including specifically the breakup of accounts classified as fraud, red-flagged, wilful defaulter and quick mortality accounts.
These guidelines will ensure greater transparency of the whole process.
Remittances (Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS) and Rupee Drawing Arrangement (RDA))
Rupee Drawing Arrangement (RDA)
Retail Direct Scheme
Scheme related queries
a. Retail investors, that is, individuals (natural persons) are allowed to open an RDG account. The following are required to open an account:
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Rupee savings bank account maintained in India.
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Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Income Tax Department.
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Any Officially Valid Document (OVD) for Know Your Customer (KYC) purpose.
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Valid email id.
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Registered mobile number.
b. Non-Resident retail investors eligible to invest in Government Securities under Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.
Biennial survey on Foreign Collaboration in Indian Industry (FCS)
Details of survey launch
Ans.: The respondent companies can submit their responses on or before July 15 of the survey year.
Targeted Long Term Repo Operations (TLTROs)
Ans: The specified securities acquired under TLTRO scheme will be allowed to remain in HTM portfolio till their maturity.
Housing Loans
In addition to all legal documents relating to the house being bought, banks will also ask you to submit Identity and Residence Proof, latest salary slip ( authenticated by the employer and self attested for employees ) and Form 16 ( for business persons/ self-employed ) and last 6 months bank statements / Balance Sheet, as applicable . You also need to submit the completed application form along with your photograph. Loan applications form would give a checklist of documents to be attached with the application.
Do not be in a hurry to seal the deal quickly.
Please do discuss and seek more information on any waivers in terms and conditions provided by the commercial bank in this regard. For example some banks insist on submission of Life Insurance Policies of the borrower / guarantor equal to the loan amount assigned in favour of the commercial bank. There are usually amount ceilings for this condition which can also be waived by appropriate authority. Please read the fine print of the bank’s scheme carefully and seek clarifications.
Government Securities Market in India – A Primer
Prior to introduction of auctions as the method of issuance, the interest rates were administratively fixed by the Government. With the introduction of auctions, the rate of interest (coupon rate) gets fixed through a market-based price discovery process.
4.1 An auction may either be yield based or price based.
i. Yield Based Auction: A yield-based auction is generally conducted when a new G-Sec is issued. Investors bid in yield terms up to two decimal places (e.g., 8.19%, 8.20%, etc.). Bids are arranged in ascending order and the cut-off yield is arrived at the yield corresponding to the notified amount of the auction. The cut-off yield is then fixed as the coupon rate for the security. Successful bidders are those who have bid at or below the cut-off yield. Bids which are higher than the cut-off yield are rejected. An illustrative example of the yield-based auction is given below:
Yield based auction of a new security
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Details of bids received in the increasing order of bid yields | ||||
Bid No. | Bid Yield | Amount of bid (₹ Cr) |
Cumulative amount (₹ Cr) |
Price* with coupon as 8.22% |
1 | 8.19% | 300 | 300 | 100.19 |
2 | 8.20% | 200 | 500 | 100.14 |
3 | 8.20% | 250 | 750 | 100.13 |
4 | 8.21% | 150 | 900 | 100.09 |
5 | 8.22% | 100 | 1000 | 100 |
6 | 8.22% | 100 | 1100 | 100 |
7 | 8.23% | 150 | 1250 | 99.93 |
8 | 8.24% | 100 | 1350 | 99.87 |
The issuer would get the notified amount by accepting bids up to bid at sl. no. 5. Since the bid number 6 also is at the same yield, bid numbers 5 and 6 would get allotment on pro-rata basis so that the notified amount is not exceeded. In the above case each of bidder at sl. no. 5 and 6 would get ₹ 50 crore. Bid numbers 7 and 8 are rejected as the yields are higher than the cut-off yield. | ||||
*Price corresponding to the yield is determined as per the relationship given under YTM calculation in question 24. |
ii. Price Based Auction: A price based auction is conducted when Government of India re-issues securities which have already been issued earlier. Bidders quote in terms of price per ₹100 of face value of the security (e.g., ₹102.00, ₹101.00, ₹100.00, ₹ 99.00, etc., per ₹100/-). Bids are arranged in descending order of price offered and the successful bidders are those who have bid at or above the cut-off price. Bids which are below the cut-off price are rejected. An illustrative example of price based auction is given below:
Price based auction of an existing security 8.22% GS 2026
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Details of bids received in the decreasing order of bid price | ||||
Bid no. | Price of bid | Amount of bid (₹ Cr) |
Implicit yield | Cumulative amount (₹ Cr) |
1 | 100.19 | 300 | 8.19% | 300 |
2 | 100.14 | 200 | 8.20% | 500 |
3 | 100.13 | 250 | 8.20% | 750 |
4 | 100.09 | 150 | 8.21% | 900 |
5 | 100 | 100 | 8.22% | 1000 |
6 | 100 | 100 | 8.22% | 1100 |
7 | 99.93 | 150 | 8.23% | 1250 |
8 | 99.87 | 100 | 8.24% | 1350 |
The issuer would get the notified amount by accepting bids up to 5. Since the bid number 6 also is at the same price, bid numbers 5 and 6 would get allotment in proportion so that the notified amount is not exceeded. In the above case each of bidders at sl. no. 5 and 6 would get securities worth ₹ 50 crore. Bid numbers 7 and 8 are rejected as the price quoted is less than the cut-off price. | ||||
4.2 Depending upon the method of allocation to successful bidders, auction may be conducted on Uniform Price basis or Multiple Price basis. In a Uniform Price auction, all the successful bidders are required to pay for the allotted quantity of securities at the same rate, i.e., at the auction cut-off rate, irrespective of the rate quoted by them. On the other hand, in a Multiple Price auction, the successful bidders are required to pay for the allotted quantity of securities at the respective price / yield at which they have bid. In the example under (ii) above, if the auction was Uniform Price based, all bidders would get allotment at the cut-off price, i.e., ₹100.00. On the other hand, if the auction was Multiple Price based, each bidder would get the allotment at the price he/ she has bid, i.e., bidder 1 at ₹100.19, bidder 2 at ₹100.14 and so on.
4.3 An investor, depending upon his eligibility, may bid in an auction under either of the following categories:
Competitive Bidding: In a competitive bidding, an investor bids at a specific price / yield and is allotted securities if the price / yield quoted is within the cut-off price / yield. Competitive bids are made by well-informed institutional investors such as banks, financial institutions, PDs, mutual funds, and insurance companies. The minimum bid amount is ₹10,000 and in multiples of ₹10,000 in dated securities and minimum ₹ 10,000 in case of T-Bills and in multiples of ₹ 10,000 thereafter. Multiple bidding is also allowed, i.e., an investor may put in multiple bids at various prices/ yield levels.
Non-Competitive Bidding (NCB):
With a view to encouraging wider participation and retail holding of Government securities, retail investors are allowed participation on “non-competitive” basis in select auctions of dated Government of India (GoI) securities and Treasury Bills. Participation on a non-competitive basis in the auctions will be open to a retail investor who (a) does not maintain current account (CA) or Subsidiary General Ledger (SGL) account with the Reserve Bank of India; and (b) submits the bid indirectly through an Aggregator/Facilitator permitted under the scheme. Retail investor, for the purpose of scheme of NCB, is any person, including individuals, firms, companies, corporate bodies, institutions, provident funds, trusts, and any other entity as may be prescribed by RBI. Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Cooperative Banks shall be covered under this Scheme only in the auctions of dated securities in view of their statutory obligations and shall be eligible to submit their non-competitive bids directly. State Governments, eligible provident funds in India, the Nepal Rashtra Bank, Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan and any Person or Institution, specified by the Bank, with the approval of Government, shall be covered under this scheme only in the auctions of Treasury Bills without any restriction on the maximum amount of bid for these entities and their bids will be outside the notified amount. Under the Scheme, an investor can make only a single bid in an auction.
Allocation of non-competitive bids from retail investors except as specified above will be restricted to a maximum of five percent of the aggregate nominal amount of the issue within the notified amount as specified by the Government of India, or any other percentage determined by Reserve Bank of India. The minimum amount for bidding will be ₹10,000 (face value) and thereafter in multiples in ₹10,000 as hitherto. In the auctions of GoI dated securities, the retail investors can make a single bid for an amount not more than Rupees Two crore (face value) per security per auction.
In addition to scheduled banks and primary dealers, specified stock exchanges are also permitted to act as aggregators/facilitators. These stock exchanges submit a single consolidated non-competitive bid in the auction process and will have to put in place necessary processes to transfer the securities so allotted in the primary auction to their members/clients.
Allotment under the non-competitive segment will be at the weighted average rate of yield/price that will emerge in the auction on the basis of the competitive bidding. The Aggregator/Facilitator can recover up to six paise per ₹100 as brokerage/commission/service charges for rendering this service to their clients. Such costs may be built into the sale price or recovered separately from the clients. It may be noted that no other costs, such as funding costs, should be built into the price or recovered from the client. In case the aggregate amount of bid is more than the reserved amount (5% of notified amount), pro rata allotment would be made. In case of partial allotments, it will be the responsibility of the Aggregator/Facilitator to appropriately allocate securities to their clients in a transparent manner. In case the aggregate amount of bids is less than the reserved amount, the shortfall will be taken to competitive portion.
The updated Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the auctions of Government Securities and Treasury Bills is issued by RBI vide IDMD.1080/08.01.001/2017-18 dated November 23, 2017.
4.4 NCB scheme has been introduced in SDLs from August 2009. The aggregate amount reserved for the purpose in the case of SDLs is 10% of the notified amount (e.g. ₹100 Crore for a notified amount of ₹1000 Crore) subject to a maximum limit of 1% of notified amount for a single bid per stock. The bidding and allotment procedure is similar to that of G-Secs.
Conversion (Switch) of Government of India Securities through auction
RBI has from April 22, 2019 started conducting the auction for conversion of Government of India securities on third Monday of every month. Bidding in the auction implies that the market participants agree to sell the source security/ies to the Government of India (GoI) and simultaneously agree to buy the destination security from the GoI at their respective quoted prices. The source securities along with notified amount and corresponding destination securities are provided in the press release issued before the auction. The market participants are required to place their bids in e-kuber giving the amount of the source security and the price of the source and destination security expressed up to two decimal places. The price of the source security quoted must be equal to the FBIL closing price of the source security as on the previous working day.
Core Investment Companies
Core Investment Companies (CICs)
Ans: All companies in the group that are CICs would be regarded as CICs-ND-SI (provided they have accessed public fund) and would be required to obtain a Certificate of Registration from the Bank.
All you wanted to know about NBFCs
A. Definitions
Foreign Investment in India
Domestic Deposits
I. Domestic Deposits
Annual Return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) under FEMA 1999
Eligible entities and requirements to submit the FLA return
Ans: Entities should mandatorily fill the FLA return within the due date. In case the entities do not have their audited balance sheet ready, they may fill the return with the provisional/unaudited numbers. Thereafter, once the audited numbers are ready, request for revision of the previously filed return to RBI needs to be raised. Once approved by RBI, you can revise the previously filed return with audited numbers and re-submit the same to RBI.
Page Last Updated on: December 10, 2022