Breaking Update: Here’s a clear explanation of the latest developments related to Breaking News:RBI is about to make banking easier for Indians. Here’s how– What Just Happened and why it matters right now.
Outlining the initiatives, the RBI said the measures span customer safeguards, digital payments security, credit expansion for MSMEs, regulatory relief for NBFCs, support for UCBs, and steps to deepen financial markets.
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“I shall be announcing several measures aimed at enhancement.
Number one: customer protection.
Number two: advancing financial inclusion.
Number three: promoting ease of doing business, especially for NBFCs and UCBs, and deepening financial markets.”
Stronger customer protection and fraud safeguards
As part of efforts to strengthen customer protection, the central bank said it will issue three draft guidelines covering mis-selling, loan recovery practices, and unauthorised electronic transactions.
“For customer protection, we will issue three draft guidelines. First, guidelines related to mis-selling, which have been under consideration for some time. Second, guidelines regarding the recovery of loans and the engagement of recovery agents. Third, guidelines on limiting customer liability in unauthorised electronic banking transactions.”
In a major relief for depositors and digital banking users, the RBI also proposed a compensation framework for small-value fraud cases.
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“It is also proposed to introduce a framework to compensate customers up to an amount of ₹25,000 for losses incurred in small-value fraudulent transactions.”
The RBI said it will publish a discussion paper on strengthening digital payment safety, including additional protections for vulnerable users.
“In this regard, we also propose to publish a discussion paper on possible measures to enhance the safety of digital payments. Such measures may include layered credit limits and additional authentication for specific classes of users, such as senior citizens.”
Advancing financial inclusion, boosting MSME credit
On financial inclusion, the RBI said it has comprehensively reviewed key schemes to improve data quality, monitoring, and delivery.
“In the financial inclusion space, we have reviewed the Lead Bank Scheme, the Kisan Credit Card Scheme, and the Business Correspondent Model. Draft revised guidelines will be issued, and a unified reporting portal will be launched for better management of Lead Bank Scheme data.”
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In a boost to small businesses, the central bank proposed doubling the limit for collateral-free loans to MSMEs.
“The limit of ₹10 lakh for collateral-free loans to MSMEs is proposed to be increased to ₹20 lakh.”
Banks allowed to lend to REITs
To promote financing in the real estate sector, the RBI said banks will be allowed to lend to real estate investment trusts (REITs), subject to prudential safeguards.
“To further promote financing to the real estate sector, it is proposed to allow banks to lend to REITs with certain prudential safeguards.”
Strengthening UCBs
The RBI announced four measures for urban co-operative banks aimed at improving their lending capacity and governance.
“The first two measures pertain to raising the financial limits on unsecured loans and loans to nominal members by UCBs,” it said.
The central bank also proposed to ease housing loan norms for larger UCBs.
“We propose to remove the tenor and moratorium-related requirements on housing loans given by Tier III and Tier IV UCBs.”
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To strengthen governance and skills in the co-operative banking sector, the RBI said it will launch a large-scale training initiative.
“To strengthen the managerial and technical capacity of UCBs, we shall launch Mission-SAKSHAM (Sahakari Bank Kshamta Nirman). The mission intends to train over 1.4 lakh participants from UCBs.”
Promoting ease of doing business for NBFCs
The RBI proposed regulatory relief for smaller NBFCs, especially those without customer-facing operations.
“NBFCs having no public funds and no customer interface, with asset size not exceeding ₹1,000 crore, are proposed to be exempted from the requirement of registration.”
Additionally, branch expansion norms are set to be relaxed for select NBFCs.
“It is proposed to dispense with the requirement for certain NBFCs to obtain prior approval to open more than 1,000 branches.”
Deepening financial markets
On financial markets, the RBI said revised regulations for external commercial borrowings (ECBs) have been finalised and will be notified shortly.
“We had earlier issued revised draft regulations for ECBs. They have been finalised and shall be notified shortly.”
The central bank also proposed to remove the overall investment cap under the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR), while retaining category-wise limits.
“We propose to remove the limit of ₹2.5 lakh crore for investments under the Voluntary Retention Route. Investment through the VRR in each category of securities will remain subject to the respective category-wise ceilings under the General Route.”
Further, new products and flexibility for market intermediaries are in the pipeline.
“In pursuance of the announcement made in the Union Budget 2026–27, we propose to issue a regulatory framework for derivatives on corporate bond indices and total return swaps on corporate bonds.”
“It is also proposed to issue draft revised guidelines for Authorised Dealer banks and stand-alone primary dealers, allowing them greater flexibility in undertaking foreign exchange transactions.”