Rs 100 a day: RBI fines 3 credit bureaus for skipping it

Change: The Reserve Bank announced five monetary penalties on Friday 4 September. Three of India's four credit bureaus were fined for the same failure: TransUnion CIBIL Rs 26,82,800, CRIF High Mark Rs 6,89,600 and Equifax Rs 1,19,400. All three failed to credit compensation to customers whose credit-report complaints were resolved late.

Impact: The rule behind the fines: if a credit-report complaint is not resolved within 30 calendar days, the customer is owed Rs 100 for every day of delay. RBI is now checking whether that money actually reaches bank accounts.

Action: Record the date on every credit-report complaint you take. That date starts the 30-day clock that decides compensation.

Change: Payment companies have asked the Reserve Bank for more time on the 15 September deadline to re-verify their merchants' identity papers, Moneycontrol reported on Friday, 4 September. About 30 to 35 per cent of small shopkeepers with UPI QR codes, and around 10 lakh small online sellers, may miss the date.

Impact: A merchant who misses the deadline can have payments paused and the QR code blocked, under the payment rules issued in September 2025.

Action: If your branch banks small merchants, expect questions next week. The fix sits with the merchant's payment company, but staff should know the date.

Change: Coastal Local Area Bank Limited has been included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, RBI announced on Friday, 4 September. The notification is dated 28 July and was published in the official gazette on 11 August.

Impact: Second Schedule entry makes it a scheduled bank: it can now borrow from the Reserve Bank and joins the list most government depositors are allowed to use.

Action: Nothing to do. Know the name if you work in Andhra Pradesh.

Change: Holders of Sovereign Gold Bond 2021-22 Series VI can exit early on Monday 7 September at Rs 15,334 per unit, RBI announced on Friday, 4 September. The same bond was issued at Rs 4,732 per gram in September 2021.

Impact: Money more than tripled in five years, before counting the 2.5 per cent yearly interest paid on top.

Action: Customers will ask. Early exit is allowed only from the fifth year, on interest payment dates, at the three-day average IBJA gold price.

What changed: TransUnion CIBIL was fined Rs 26,82,800 by an order dated 31 August for failing to credit compensation to eligible complainants within the prescribed period, under the 2023 framework for compensation for delayed correction of credit information.

Who is affected: Compliance and credit teams at every bank and NBFC, because the same framework binds lenders too.

What to do: Check your own side of the rule: a lender must send the correction to the bureaus within 21 days of being told. Miss it and your bank shares the compensation bill.

Source: Reserve Bank of India press release, 4 September 2026 ↗

What changed: CRIF High Mark was fined Rs 6,89,600 for the same failure as CIBIL: compensation for late credit-report corrections not credited in time. Equifax was fined Rs 1,19,400 the same day, per its own RBI release of 4 September.

Who is affected: Anyone who handles customer credit-report disputes.

What to do: Tell customers the truth of the news from Friday 4 September: the compensation right is real and the regulator enforces it.

Source: Reserve Bank of India press release, 4 September 2026 ↗

What changed: Two NBFC penalties the same day: Hinduja Leyland Finance Rs 6.20 lakh, for having no board-approved policy on pricing microfinance loans and for activities in the nature of synthetic securitisation, and Sammaan Finserve Rs 4.20 lakh, for not reporting a borrower's credit information to CRILC, the large-loans registry.

Who is affected: NBFC credit and compliance teams.

What to do: CRILC reporting and board-approved pricing policies are being checked in inspections. Close the gaps before the inspector finds them.

Source: Reserve Bank of India press release, 4 September 2026 ↗

What changed: Sovereign Gold Bond 2021-22 Series VI: early-exit price fixed at Rs 15,334 per unit for Monday 7 September, based on the average IBJA gold price of 2, 3 and 4 September.

Who is affected: Branch staff and wealth desks fielding gold bond questions.

What to do: Customers who want to exit apply through the bank or broker where they hold the bond. Those who stay keep earning 2.5 per cent a year on the issue price.

Last date: Monday, 7 September 2026.

Source: Reserve Bank of India press release, 4 September 2026 ↗

Branch: Every credit-report complaint gets a written acknowledgement with the date. That paper is the customer's proof and your protection. Next calendar risk: the one-day strike on Friday 11 September.

Compliance: The five penalties announced Friday 4 September all came from inspections of the year ended March 2025. The items checked: compensation payment, CRILC reporting, board-approved pricing policy.

Credit: The Sammaan fine is the message: report large borrower exposures to CRILC on time, at NBFCs as much as banks.

Technology: Merchant re-KYC must be done in person by the payment company's own employees, not agents. That staffing rule is why the 15 September deadline is tight.

Treasury: The new 5-year bond auctioned Friday 4 September, New GS 2031, cleared at 6.53% with full take-up and no devolvement. The Rs 7,00,000 crore 30-day window opens Monday 7 September, 9:30 to 10:00 on E-Kuber, money back 7 October, early exit allowed.

A customer's loan was rejected over a wrong entry in his credit report, and he blames your branch

The fines on the credit bureaus, announced Friday 4 September, make this conversation certain to happen this week.

1. File the dispute the same day, through your bank's process or directly with the bureau, and hand the customer a written acknowledgement with the date. The 30-day clock starts at filing.
2. Your bank must send the correction or its answer to the bureaus within 21 days of being told. Chase your own back office against that date.
3. If the complaint crosses 30 days unresolved, the customer is owed Rs 100 per calendar day, split between the bank and bureau responsible for the delay.
4. The compensation must reach the customer's bank account within 5 working days of resolution. Resolution means the corrected report has been sent to the customer.
5. If the customer gets neither correction nor compensation, the RBI Ombudsman takes complaints free of cost.

Source: RBI circular of 26 October 2023: compensation for delayed correction of credit information ↗

Check today: Agents who promise to clean a credit score for a fee are the fraud angle on today's lead. No one can erase a genuine default. The lawful route is the free dispute process, with Rs 100 a day compensation when it runs late. A paid shortcut is a lie or a forgery.

Certification Saturday, 5 September: JAIIB is 8 weeks away

The November JAIIB sits on 1, 22, 28 and 29 November: Indian Economy first, then Principles and Practices of Banking, Accounting, and Retail Banking. Registration closed on 31 August, so if you are enrolled, the work starts now. The gift in the calendar: 21 clear days between paper one and paper two. Put the hardest subject first.

Source: Indian Institute of Banking and Finance, JAIIB schedule ↗

Rs 26,82,800

The fine on TransUnion CIBIL, the largest of the five penalties announced Friday 4 September. It was charged for not paying customers the Rs 100-a-day compensation they were owed for late credit-report corrections.

Source: Reserve Bank of India press release, 4 September 2026 ↗

7 September — Early-exit day for Sovereign Gold Bond 2021-22 Series VI at Rs 15,334 per unit.

11 September — One-day nationwide bank strike called by the unions, Friday 11 September.

15 September — Deadline for payment companies to finish merchant re-KYC. Extension requested, not granted.

1 November — First JAIIB November paper: Indian Economy and Indian Financial System.

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