Reserve Bank of India (Small Finance Banks – 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. 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 SFBs

This document sets the lending rules for small finance banks.

3. Start date

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

4. Who is covered

These Directions apply to every small finance bank.

1. Outsourcing does not shift blame

Outsourcing never dilutes the lender's own regulatory duties.

2. No silent limit increase

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

3. Money to the borrower

Loan money must reach the borrower's own account. It cannot go to a partner's account.

4. No third party in between

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

5. Bank pays the partner

The bank pays its lending partner. The partner cannot collect those charges from the borrower.

6. One day to walk away

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

7. No access to phone data

A lending app must not reach the phone's files, media, contact list or call logs.

8. No biometric data

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

9. Data back in a day

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

10. A guarantee is not underwriting

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

11. Not on revolving credit

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

12. Default guarantee cap

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

13. Guarantee cover capped

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

14. 120 days to invoke cover

The bank must call in that guarantee within 120 days of the loan falling overdue.

15. Monthly disclosure, seven days

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

16. Review the provider's conduct

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

17. Watch the loans they source

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

18. Show every matching offer

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

19. Same treatment for like borrowers

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

20. What the offer must state

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

21. Key Fact Statement

A Key Fact Statement must be given to the borrower.

22. Publish the lending details

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

23. Money moves directly

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

24. Officers for complaints

The bank and its digital lending partner must each name an officer for complaints.

25. A named grievance officer

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

26. Show the officer's contact

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

27. Complain from the app

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

28. Collect only what is needed

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

29. Data stays in India

All data must sit on servers located in India.

30. A published privacy policy

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

31. Name the data collectors

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

32. Guarantor must be a company

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

33. Test the guarantor's capacity

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

34. Guarantee outlives the loans

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

35. Contract before any lending

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

36. Know the borrower's means

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

37. Lender pays the provider

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

38. Free exit window

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

39. Consent can be withdrawn

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

40. Ask before sharing

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

41. Providers store almost nothing

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

42. Listing is not approval

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

43. Borrower still owes the loan

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

44. Invoked cover is not restored

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

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

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

3. Ownership must be clear

A bank cannot lend where the ownership of the pledged metal is in doubt.

4. No re-pledging of gold

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

5. Bullet loan tenor

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

6. One-kilogram pledge cap

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

7. Coin weight limit

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

8. Up to ₹2.5 lakh

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

9. ₹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.

10. Above ₹5 lakh

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

11. Papers for priority lending

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

12. No gold loans for speculation

The bank must check that a borrower is not buying or holding gold to invest or speculate.

13. Valued at actual purity

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

14. Loan ratio held throughout

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

15. Renewal within the ratio

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

16. Bullet repayment loans

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

1. Gold metal loan checks

The policy must set the checks for deciding who may take a gold metal loan.

1. Microfinance income ceiling

A microfinance loan goes to a household earning up to ₹3,00,000 a year.

2. Three lakh income test

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

3. Half the household income

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

4. Household income policy

The Board must approve a policy for judging household income before a microfinance loan.

5. Income sent to bureaus

The bank must report the household income it assesses to the credit information companies.

6. Repayment limit policy

The Board must also approve a policy that caps monthly loan repayments against income.

7. Flexible repayment offered

The Board must approve a policy letting microfinance borrowers choose how often they repay.

8. Household defined

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

9. Every loan counted

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

10. Old loans run their course

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

11. No fresh loan above cap

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

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 bank 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. Fifteen days for project data

A change in any project loan detail must be recorded within 15 days.

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. Unauthorised colonies barred

No loan may be given on a property in an unauthorised colony until it is regularised.

2. Three years to finish

A housing project financed by the bank must be completed within three years.

3. No land loans to builders

A bank cannot fund a private builder's purchase of land, even inside a housing project.

4. Ten lakh house exemption

Where the house costs up to ten lakh rupees, stamp duty may be added before the ratio is worked out.

5. Ten per cent commercial space

A housing project stays residential only while commercial space is within a tenth of the floor space.

6. Policy for real estate

The Board must approve a policy on real estate exposure limits, margins, security and repayment.

7. Not for speculation

Credit must go to productive construction, not to speculation in real estate.

8. No offices for government

Finance is not available for buildings meant purely for government or municipal offices.

9. Land valued at market price

Land taken as collateral is valued at the current market price only.

10. Repayment decides the label

If repayment depends on business profit rather than the property, it is not commercial real estate.

11. Third house counts differently

A loan for a person's third home onwards is treated as commercial property lending.

1. Not for the budget gap

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

2. Not while a unit struggles

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

3. Cash must cover the debt

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

4. Audit Committee reviews it

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

5. Expertise before infrastructure

Infrastructure lending needs the appraisal expertise for it.

6. Only corporate public entities

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

7. Named and trackable projects

Funding a special purpose vehicle requires a specific monitorable project.

8. A policy for trust lending

Lending to an infrastructure trust needs a Board policy covering appraisal, limits and monitoring.

1. Appraise before a bill limit

Working capital and bill limits follow a proper appraisal and the Board approved policy.

2. Service bills are unsecured

Finance against a services sector bill counts as an unsecured advance.

1. ₹1 crore against securities

Loans to one person against eligible securities are capped at ₹1 crore across all banks.

2. ₹25 lakh for share buying

Inside that cap, only ₹25 lakh may fund the purchase of securities in the market.

1. Broker guarantee cover

A guarantee for a broker needs 50 per cent collateral, of which half must be cash.

2. Haircut on shares

Equity shares taken as security carry a haircut of at least 40 per cent.

1. 360 days for packing credit

Pre-shipment credit not settled within 360 days stops counting as export credit.

2. Standby limit for exporters

A Gold Card holder also gets a standby limit of at least 20 per cent.

3. Gold Card service times

A Gold Card request must be settled in 25, 15 or seven days by type.

1. Half of a bond issue

Credit support from one bank for a bond issue cannot cross half its size.

2. Support against Tier 1

All such credit support together cannot cross 20 per cent of Tier 1 capital.

3. Ceilings on guarantees

The bank must set its own limits on guarantees, and tighter limits on unsecured guarantees.

4. Guarantee must be honoured

A bank must honour its guarantee when it is invoked, unless a court stops it.

5. Watch how guarantees are used

The bank must track that guaranteed money is used for the business need it was given for.

1. No bridge loans on subsidies

A bank cannot give a bridge loan against subsidies or refunds due from government.

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. Relation to other laws

These Directions add to other laws; they do not cancel any of them.

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.