Master Circular on Credit Facilities to Minority Communities
It mandates the setting up of special cell and designating an exclusive officer in each bank to ensure smooth flow of credit to minority communities.
External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) Policy – Liberalisation Measures
Eliigible ECB borrowers are allowed to raise External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) up to USD 750 million or equivalent per financial year under the automatic route.
The Foreign Exchange Management (Borrowing and Lending) (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2022.
Through this amendment, RBI has temporarily increased the borrowing limit of USD 750 million or equivalent per financial year to USD 1500 million or equivalent.
RBI notifies restriction on storage of actual card data.
Based on review of the issues involved and after detailed discussions with all stakeholders, RBI has advised that there shall be no change in the effective date of implementation of the requirements – all entities, except card issuers and card networks, shall purge the CoF data before October 1, 2022.
RBI extends the timeline for submission of applications for authorisation by payment aggregators.
Keeping in view the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure smooth functioning of the payments ecosystem, it has since been decided to allow another window to all such PAs (existing as on March 17, 2020) to apply to RBI. They can apply by September 30, 2022 and shall have a net worth of ₹15 crore as on March 31, 2022. They shall be permitted to continue their operations till they receive communication from RBI regarding the fate of their application. The timeline of March 31, 2023 for achieving the net worth of ₹25 crore shall, however, remain.
RBI publishes updated master direction on Lending to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) Sector.
Classification of Enterprises in case of upward /downward migration: In case of an upward change in terms of investment in plant and machinery or equipment or turnover or both, and consequent re-classification, an enterprise will maintain its prevailing status till expiry of one year from the close of the year of registration.
FAQ on Regulatory Framework for Microfinance Loans
Lender is required to provide a loan card to the borrower in a language understood by the borrower which should have following information: Information which adequately identifies the borrower, Simplified factsheet on pricing, All other terms and conditions attached to the loan, Acknowledgements by the lender of all repayments including instalments received and the final discharge, and Details of the grievance redress system, including the name and contact number of the nodal officer of the lender.
Master Direction – Non-Banking Financial Company – Systemically Important Non-Deposit taking Company and Deposit taking Company (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2016
The master direction is revised to prevent the affairs of any Systemically Important Non-Deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC-ND-SI) and Deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC-D) from being conducted in a manner detrimental to the interest of investors and depositors or in any manner prejudicial to the interest of such NBFCs.
RBI revises Regulatory Framework for Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs).
The Committee, inter alia, recommended a four-tiered regulatory framework based on size of deposits of the banks and their area of operations. The differentiated regulatory approach was mainly recommended for key parameters such as net worth, Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR), branch expansion and exposure limits. Membership in an Umbrella Organization (UO) also formed a vital part of the recommendations.
Ministry of Finance notifies 7.1% as the rate of interest under the special deposit scheme.
The Special Deposit Scheme was launched with an aim to provide better returns to non-government provident funds, gratuity and superannuation funds, surplus funds of LIC, ESIC etc. The funds invested in SDS grow at the interest rate announced by the government. These funds also earn by investing in government securities and mutual funds.
