Home › Circulars › RBI/2007-2008/217

Revised Lodging Reimbursement for PSB Statutory Auditors

No longer current — withdrawn, no replacement on file yet

Source: Reserve Bank of India · RBI/2007-2008/217 · issued 20 Dec 2007 · ~1 min read

Quick answerRBI directs nationalised banks to reimburse statutory auditors' lodging at limits fixed for their own officials, replacing earlier IBA-linked rates, as IBA discontinued approving hotel rates.

What changed

Earlier, lodging reimbursement for statutory auditors was linked to IBA-approved rates for bank officials. Since IBA stopped approving rates, RBI now says banks must use their own category-wise lodging limits for officials—Partners/Proprietors at GM level, Qualified Assistants at Senior Manager, Unqualified Assistants at Officer. Banks can also offer guest houses or visiting officers' flats to auditors.

What it means for you

Banks must align auditor lodging reimbursement with internal travel policies, reducing reliance on external benchmarks. This simplifies administration but may increase costs if bank limits are higher than IBA rates. It also ensures consistency in treatment of audit staff and bank officials.

Historical instruction — do not use for current compliance. This is what was required at the time; it no longer reflects current RBI requirements. If no replacement rule is linked above, that only means none is recorded on our register yet — it does not prove no later applicable rule exists. Confirm on the official RBI source below.

What banks were required to do at the time

Update internal policies to apply bank's own lodging limits for statutory auditors by category.
Communicate revised reimbursement rates to audit firms and branches.
Make guest houses/visiting officers' flats available to auditors where feasible.
Ensure acknowledgment of this circular from all concerned.

Who it affects

Nationalised banks, Associate banks of SBI, Statutory central and branch auditors, Audit firms (partners, proprietors, qualified/unqualified assistants)

❓ Common questions

Regulatory timeline

Decoded by BankPulse 2026-06-19 14:41 IST
Status change: withdrawn 05 Aug 2026, 04:00 IST

Built from our lineage records — each fact carries its provenance; missing history simply is not shown (never guessed).

What triggered this change in lodging reimbursement?

IBA discontinued its practice of approving hotel rates for bank officials, so the earlier link to IBA rates became unworkable.

How are the new lodging limits determined?

Banks must use the same category-wise limits they apply to their own officials: Partners/Proprietors at GM level, Qualified Assistants at Senior Manager, Unqualified Assistants at Officer level.

Can auditors use bank guest houses?

Yes, RBI encourages banks to make guest houses or visiting officers' flats available to auditors.

📜 Read the original circular — full text as issued by RBI

RBI/2007-2008/217
 Ref.DBS.ARS.BC. No. 07/ 08.92.001/ 2007-08 
 December 20, 2007
 The Chairman & Managing Director, all Nationalised Banks and
The Managing Director, Associate Banks of SBI
 Dear Sir/Madam, 
 Remuneration payable to the Statutory Central and
Branch Auditors of Public Sector Banks from the year 2006-07
 Please refer to our circular DBS.ARS.No.BC.08/80.92.100/2006-07 dated June 06, 2007 on remuneration payable to statutory central and branch auditors of public sector banks from the year 2006-07. 
 2. As per para H of the above circular, the reimbursement of lodging charges to partners/proprietors/qualified and unqualified assistants of audit firms has been linked to IBA approved rates for bank officials. However, it has been brought to our notice that the IBA has since discontinued the practice of approving rates and has advised its member-banks to enter into arrangements at the bank level with reputed hotels to facilitate stay of their officials while on duty outside the Headquarters. 
 3. In view of the above, it has been decided that for the purpose of reimbursement of the lodging charges payable to statutory auditors, the banks may adopt the category-wise limits fixed for lodging charges payable to their officials while they are on duty outside the Headquarters. That is, banks may reimburse lodging charges to their statutory auditors as under : 
 Category of audit officials

Reproduced for reference with acknowledgment — Source: Reserve Bank of India · RBI/2007-2008/217 · issued 20 Dec 2007. The plain-English explanation above is BankPulse’s own independent summary.

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BankPulse Compliance Evidence Pack — generated 05 Aug 2026 · status cross-checked against RBI’s official withdrawal register (refreshed weekly).
Official RBI source: https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=3988&Mode=0 — Plain-English summary by BankPulse (bankpulse.ai), reviewed by our expert reviewer, CA Amit Jain. Independent platform, not affiliated with the Reserve Bank of India; is our own plain-English paraphrase, not RBI’s original wording.