Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies – Credit Facilities) Directions, 2025 (updated as on July 15, 2026)

1. Latest update

The version shown today was last updated on July 15, 2026.

2. One consolidated rulebook

RBI pulls every NBFC credit-facility rule together into one Directions document.

3. Legal basis

RBI issues these Directions using its own legal powers, in the public interest.

1. Fifty-one per cent test

A project finance exposure needs at least fifty-one per cent of repayment to come from the project.

BankPulse example. A project loan is repaid from two sources. If less than 51 per cent comes from the project's own cash flows, it is not project finance. At least 51 per cent must come from the project.

2. Lending rules for finance firms

This document sets the lending rules for non-banking financial companies.

3. Start date

These Directions took effect on the day the Reserve Bank issued them.

4. Who is covered

These Directions apply to every non-banking financial company.

5. Core Investment Companies scope

Only paragraphs 105, 106 and 107 of Chapter VIII apply to Core Investment Companies.

6. P2P platform scope

Only paragraph 21(2) of Chapter III applies to peer-to-peer lending platforms.

1. Board-approved lending policy

The NBFC's Board must approve one policy covering digital lending, gold loans, microfinance and more.

1. Outsourcing does not shift blame

Outsourcing never dilutes the lender's own regulatory duties.

2. No dark patterns

Displayed content must be unbiased and must not push one lender's product.

3. No silent limit increase

A credit limit cannot rise on its own; the borrower must ask and the request must be recorded.

4. No third party in between

The flow of money between borrower and lender cannot be controlled by a third party.

5. One day to walk away

The cooling off period is set in the credit policy and can never be shorter than one day.

6. No biometric data

Biometric data must not be collected or stored unless a statute allows it.

7. Data back in a day

Data processed abroad must be deleted there and brought back within 24 hours.

8. A guarantee is not underwriting

A default loss guarantee cannot stand in place of proper credit appraisal.

9. Default guarantee cap

The guarantee cover agreed up front cannot be more than 5 percent of the money paid out of that loan pool.

10. Guarantee cover capped

The guarantee giver cannot carry the risk of more than five per cent of the loan pool.

11. Review the provider's conduct

The service provider's conduct against the contract must be reviewed from time to time.

12. Watch the loans they source

The policy must set out how loan books sourced through service providers are monitored.

13. Show every matching offer

The borrower must be shown a digital view of every matching loan offer.

14. Same treatment for like borrowers

Borrowers in the same position must be matched to lenders by a consistent method.

15. What the offer must state

Each offer must name the lender and state the amount, the tenor, the annual rate and the monthly outgo.

16. Key Fact Statement

A Key Fact Statement must be given to the borrower.

17. Publish the lending details

The lender must keep a public website carrying its digital lending details in one place.

18. Money moves directly

Repayments must reach the lender's account directly, with no pass-through or pool account in between.

19. Complaints officer

The NBFC must name an officer to handle digital-lending complaints from borrowers.

20. A named grievance officer

A nodal grievance redressal officer must be named for digital lending complaints.

21. Show the officer's contact

The officer's contact details must appear on the website, the app and the Key Fact Statement.

22. Complain from the app

A complaint must be capable of being lodged from the lending app itself.

23. Collect only what is needed

Data collection must be need-based, with the borrower's prior explicit consent and an audit trail.

24. Data stays in India

All data must sit on servers located in India.

25. A published privacy policy

A comprehensive privacy policy must be published on the website and the app.

26. Name the data collectors

The privacy policy must name the third parties allowed to collect data through the app.

27. Guarantor must be a company

A service provider giving a default loss guarantee must be a company under the Companies Act.

28. Test the guarantor's capacity

Before each guarantee arrangement or renewal, the guarantor's ability to pay must be established.

29. Guarantee outlives the loans

The guarantee agreement must run at least as long as the longest loan it covers.

30. Contract before any lending

Digital lending through a service provider needs a written contract setting out each side's duties.

31. Know the borrower's means

Creditworthiness must be assessed from the borrower's own economic profile before any loan.

32. Lender pays the provider

Fees due to a service provider are paid by the lender, not collected from the borrower.

33. Free exit window

A borrower may leave a digital loan during the cooling-off period without paying a penalty.

34. Consent can be withdrawn

The borrower may refuse, restrict or withdraw consent and ask for the data to be deleted.

35. Ask before sharing

Personal information goes to a third party only with explicit consent or under law.

36. Providers store almost nothing

A service provider may hold only basic contact data about the borrower.

37. Listing is not approval

Appearing on the Reserve Bank's list confers no registration, authorisation or endorsement.

38. Borrower still owes the loan

Invoking the guarantee does not reduce what the borrower owes on the underlying loan.

1. Full check above ₹2.5 lakh

A loan above ₹2.5 lakh against gold or silver needs a full repayment capacity check.

BankPulse example. A borrower has a gold loan of ₹2 lakh and asks for another ₹1 lakh. The total against the collateral becomes ₹3 lakh. That is above ₹2.5 lakh, so a full repayment capacity check is needed.

2. Barred gold lending

NBFCs cannot lend against primary gold, silver, or financial assets backed by them.

3. No re-pledging of gold

An NBFC cannot raise its own loan by re-pledging gold or silver that borrowers pledged to it.

4. Bullet loan tenor

A consumption loan repaid in one payment at the end cannot run beyond 12 months.

5. One-kilogram pledge cap

A borrower's pledged gold ornaments cannot together exceed 1 kilogram.

6. Coin weight limit

Coins pledged by one borrower cannot cross 50 grams of gold or 500 grams of silver.

7. Up to ₹2.5 lakh

A consumption loan up to ₹2.5 lakh may not exceed 85 per cent of the pledged metal value.

8. ₹2.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh

A consumption loan between ₹2.5 lakh and ₹5 lakh may not exceed 80 per cent of the pledged value.

9. Above ₹5 lakh

A consumption loan above ₹5 lakh may not exceed 75 per cent of the pledged metal value.

10. Papers for priority lending

The policy must also list the papers to collect and keep for priority sector loans.

11. Valued at actual purity

Gold or silver must be valued at the reference price for its real purity.

12. Loan ratio held throughout

The loan to value ratio must hold for the whole life of the loan.

13. Renewal within the ratio

A renewal or top-up is allowed only within the permitted ratio and while the loan is standard.

14. Bullet repayment loans

On a bullet repayment loan the ratio is worked out on the total amount repayable at maturity.

1. Three lakh income test

A collateral-free loan to a household earning up to three lakh rupees a year is microfinance.

2. Half of monthly income

Loan repayments cannot cross half of the household's monthly income.

3. Half the household income

All loan repayments of a household together cannot exceed half of its monthly income.

4. Income assessment policy

The NBFC's Board must approve how it assesses a household's income for microfinance loans.

5. Household defined

A household here means the husband, the wife and their unmarried children.

6. Every loan counted

That count includes every other loan of the household, whether secured or not.

7. Old loans run their course

Loans already above the repayment ceiling are allowed to run to maturity.

8. No fresh loan above cap

No new loan may be given until the household comes back within that limit.

9. Flexible repayment choice

Borrowers can choose flexible repayment timing on their microfinance loans.

1. Repayment against project life

The repayment period cannot cross 85 per cent of the economic life of the project.

BankPulse example. A project has an economic life of 20 years. The repayment period, moratorium included, may not exceed 85 per cent of that. Eighty-five per cent of 20 years is 17 years.

2. Smaller project share

In a project loan pool up to ₹1,500 crore, each NBFC must hold at least 10 per cent.

3. Larger project share

Above ₹1,500 crore, the floor is 5 per cent of the pool or ₹150 crore, whichever is higher.

4. Viability study needed

A project loan pool of ₹100 crore or more needs a techno-economic viability study.

5. Project finance reporting

NBFCs must report any project finance change within 15 days of it happening.

6. Three months for systems

The system that keeps those project records must be ready within three months.

7. Credit policy covers project loans

The credit policy must carry its own clauses for sanctioning project finance.

8. Closure and a dated completion

Funds are released only after financial closure, with the completion date documented.

9. Land readiness rule

PPP projects need 50% of land ready, other projects need 75%, before money is paid out.

1. Enhancement cap per bond

One NBFC's credit-enhancement cover cannot exceed 50 percent of a single bond issue.

2. Credit enhancement, not guarantee

Middle Layer and larger NBFCs may give partial credit enhancement to bonds; it cannot take the form of a guarantee.

1. IPO funding cap

NBFCs cannot fund more than 1 crore rupees per borrower for IPO subscriptions.

2. Own-share lending ban

An NBFC cannot lend money against the security of its own shares.

3. Share-loan margin rule

A loan against shares as collateral is capped at a 50 per cent loan to value ratio.

1. Later update

RBI updated these Directions again on July 15, 2026.

2. Older rules repealed

This document repeals all earlier NBFC credit-facility rules and guidelines.

3. Old actions preserved

Anything already done under the old rules stays governed by those old rules.

4. Approvals carried over

Approvals given under the cancelled rules are now treated as given under these rules.

5. Other laws still apply

These Directions add to other laws. They do not replace any of them.

BankPulse example. A bank follows these Directions and thinks the matter is closed. It is not. Any other laws, rules, regulations or directions in force still apply on top. Where another one asks for more, the bank does the more.