Reserve Bank of India (All India Financial Institutions – Credit Facilities) Directions, 2025

1. Latest update

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

2. The five institutions

The five all India financial institutions are EXIM Bank, NABARD, SIDBI, NHB and NaBFID.

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

This document sets the lending rules for all India financial institutions.

3. Start date

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

4. Who is covered

These Directions apply to every all India financial institution.

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. Not on revolving credit

Default loss guarantees are barred on revolving credit and on credit cards.

10. Default guarantee cap

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

11. Guarantee cover capped

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

12. Monthly disclosure, seven days

The guarantee disclosure is monthly and is due within seven working days of the month end.

13. Review the provider's conduct

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

14. Watch the loans they source

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

15. Show every matching offer

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

16. Same treatment for like borrowers

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

17. What the offer must state

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

18. Key Fact Statement

A Key Fact Statement must be given to the borrower.

19. Publish the lending details

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

20. Money moves directly

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

21. A named grievance officer

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

22. Show the officer's contact

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

23. Complain from the app

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

24. Collect only what is needed

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

25. Data stays in India

All data must sit on servers located in India.

26. A published privacy policy

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

27. Name the data collectors

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

28. Guarantor must be a company

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

29. Test the guarantor's capacity

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

30. Guarantee outlives the loans

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

31. Contract before any lending

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

32. Know the borrower's means

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

33. Lender pays the provider

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

34. Free exit window

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

35. Consent can be withdrawn

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

36. Ask before sharing

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

37. Providers store almost nothing

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

38. Listing is not approval

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

39. Borrower still owes the loan

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

40. Invoked cover is not restored

Once a default loss guarantee is invoked, the cover is not reinstated even after recovery.

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 all India financial institution must hold at least 10 per cent.

BankPulse example. Suppose four lenders together put ₹1,000 crore into an under-construction project. That pool is up to ₹1,500 crore, so no single lender may sit below 10 per cent of it. Ten per cent of ₹1,000 crore is ₹100 crore.

3. Larger project share

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

BankPulse example. Suppose the pool is ₹4,000 crore. The floor is 5 per cent or ₹150 crore, whichever is higher. Five per cent of ₹4,000 crore is ₹200 crore, so that is the number.

4. Minimum funding share

Each lender must fund at least 5 per cent of the exposure or ₹150 crore, whichever is higher.

5. Viability study needed

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

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. Watch how guarantees are used

The all India financial institution must track that guaranteed money is used for the business need it was given for.

1. Barred NBFC financing

All India financial institutions cannot finance NBFCs for a list of activities named in this rule.

2. Not for the budget gap

Loans to a special purpose vehicle must not end up financing a government budget deficit.

3. Not while a unit struggles

Lending to a trust is barred where an underlying company with bank loans is in financial difficulty.

4. Cash must cover the debt

The trust's cash flows must be tested as sufficient to service the debt on time.

5. Audit Committee reviews it

The Audit Committee of the Board must review compliance twice a year.

6. Expertise before infrastructure

Infrastructure lending needs the appraisal expertise for it.

7. Only corporate public entities

Term loans to public sector units go only to bodies incorporated under a statute or the Companies Act.

8. Named and trackable projects

Funding a special purpose vehicle requires a specific monitorable project.

1. Later update

RBI updated these Directions again on July 15, 2026.

2. Old actions preserved

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

3. Approvals carried over

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

4. 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.