Foreign investment limits in credit information companies permit higher participation subject to ownership diversification, board composition, reporting and restrictions.
RBI directs that any person's direct or indirect investment in a Credit Information Company shall not exceed ten percent of the equity, while allowing the Reserve Bank to permit higher foreign participation for investors with established credit bureau track records subject to ownership diversification, specified board composition, and preference for listed investors. FII/FPI investment is permitted under conditions including single-entity holding limits, mandatory reporting for acquisitions beyond a minimal shareholding, and prohibition on board representation. Where the investor is a wholly owned subsidiary of an investment holding company, applicable conditions apply to the operating group company providing technical know-how.

Investment Advisory Services must be offered through arm's-length SEBI-registered subsidiaries, not departmentally, ensuring regulatory compliance.
Banks are prohibited from providing Investment Advisory Services departmentally; such services must be offered only through a separate subsidiary or an existing subsidiary maintained at arm's length. Sponsor banks must obtain prior regulatory approval before using or creating a subsidiary for this purpose, and all bank sponsored subsidiaries offering investment advice must register with SEBI and comply with SEBI (Investment Advisors) Regulations while restricting advice to products banks are permitted to deal in and adhering to applicable KYC/AML/CFT requirements.

Provisioning for fraud accounts: banks must recognise exposure immediately or elect staged provisioning to smooth profit impact.
Banks must normally provide for the entire amount due on fraud detection, allowing adjustment for eligible financial collateral under Basel III; alternatively, they may spread provisioning over up to four consecutive quarters from detection. If full provisioning spills into a subsequent financial year, the unprovided balance at year-end must be debited from other reserves to provisions and thereafter reversed proportionately while charging profit and loss to complete provisioning. Banks must disclose number and amounts of frauds, provisions made, and unamortised provisions debited from other reserves, and adhere to fraud classification and reporting rules.

Cash Reserve Ratio maintenance reduced under Section 42(1), lowering banks' daily compliance burden and easing liquidity management.
Change under Section 42(1) of the Reserve Bank of India Act reduces the daily minimum Cash Reserve Ratio maintenance obligation, lowering the daily compliance threshold banks must hold and thereby easing intrafortnight liquidity requirements; the reduction is communicated by Reserve Bank circular to scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks and scheduled cooperative banks with a specified effective fortnight.

Bank rate reduction lowers penal interest on reserve shortfalls, changing penalty calculations for banks from the effective date.
Bank rate reduced by seventy-five basis points, changing the reference rate used to compute penal interest on shortfalls in reserve requirements. Penal interest rates linked to the Bank Rate remain expressed as the Bank Rate plus specified margins and are revised downward to reflect the lower Bank Rate; banks must apply the revised structure from the effective date in the circular.

Special clearing for government transactions requires banks to participate and maintain settlement balances and infrastructure.
Directive mandates special clearing on March 30-31, 2016 for Government receipts and payments, with specified presentation and return session timings (single session for CTS 2010 and non CTS 2010 in CTS grids; locally determined timings for non MICR/ECCS centers). All clearing house member banks must participate, keep inward clearing infrastructure open during special hours and maintain sufficient clearing settlement balances. Outward participation depends on instruments received for government accounts. Banks must also be ready to operate RTGS/NEFT during extended windows as instructed.

March residual transactions: require segregated scrolls and separate reporting to secure correct year end accounting.
Nodal/Focal Point branches must segregate March transactions from April transactions during the initial April reporting period by preparing distinct main scrolls and daily summaries: one set marked as March Residual for transactions effected in March or earlier, serially numbered and reported separately via Daily Memos to the Link Cell for separate settlement with central accounts, and another set for current April transactions. Cheques realized on or before the last day of March are treated as March Residual even if reported in April; cheques realized after are treated as next year transactions.

Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016: mandatory KYC/CDD, digital/V CIP onboarding, CKYCR uploads, risk based monitoring and sanctions screening.
Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016 mandates board approved KYC/AML/CFT policies for all RBI regulated entities, prescribes definitions, CDD/CIP requirements including beneficial owner identification, a risk based approach with customer risk categorisation and periodic KYC updation, and authorises Digital KYC, Aadhaar e KYC and V CIP subject to technical and security standards. REs must upload KYC records to CKYCR, retain transaction/identification records, file STR/CTR with FIU IND, screen daily against sanctions lists and implement wire transfer information requirements, with enhanced due diligence for high risk customers and specified procedures for small accounts and simplified onboarding.

Off-site ATM authorisation expanded: banks may offer all products via ATMs if technology permits and fraud controls are in place.
Banks may offer the full range of products and services through ATM channels provided technology permits and adequate controls are implemented to prevent misuse and fraud; off-site ATM deployment continues under the conditional framework established by prior branch authorisation guidance, without the need for case-by-case permission.

Sovereign Gold Bond framework: eligibility, pricing basis, interest payment, redemption terms, SLR and collateral rules clarified.
Sovereign Gold Bonds set out eligibility (residents, individuals, trusts, institutions), issuance in Government of India Stock with holding certificates and de-mat conversion, denomination in gram units, price and redemption fixed by prior week's simple average closing price for 999 purity gold, permitted payment modes through authorised receiving offices, fixed annual interest paid half-yearly, maturity with pre-mature redemption from the fifth year, SLR eligibility, use as collateral subject to ordinary gold loan LTV rules, taxable interest and capital gains treatment aligned with physical gold, and prescribed forms and transfer, nomination and tradability procedures under the Government Securities Act and Regulations.

Interest equalisation on pre/post-shipment rupee export credit requires banks to pass benefits and file audited reimbursement claims.
Interest equalisation of 3% per annum applies to pre- and post-shipment rupee export credit for eligible exporters (excluding merchant exporters), covering specified 416 HS lines and MSME exports, subject to minimum processing rules of origin. Banks must fully pass on the benefit-crediting accounts for April-November 2015 claims and reducing charged interest from December 2015-and submit sector-wise consolidated reimbursement claims to RBI in the prescribed format with an External Auditor's Certificate; reimbursements will be made by RBI from government provided revolving funds.

Scheme implementation requires cooperative banks to integrate IT modules and finalise insurer tie ups for online enrolment.
Primary Urban Cooperative Banks must integrate scheme-specific modules into their CBS and BC handheld software to enable online enrolment, issue an acknowledgement slip that can serve as the insurance certificate, finalise MOUs with insurers willing to offer the product on prescribed terms, and appoint a Nodal Officer while furnishing bank and contact details to RBI Regional Offices for transmission to the Ministry of Finance.

Recognition of third gender: banks must include a third gender option in account and KYC forms to ensure access.
Banks are directed to include a third gender option in all forms and applications prescribed by the Reserve Bank or the banks themselves, where any gender classification is envisaged, to implement the Supreme Court's recognition of transgender persons' right to self-identify.

Provisioning for fraud accounts: phased full provisioning within a limited period unless delayed reporting triggers immediate provisioning and supervisory action.
Banks must provide for the entire amount due or for which the bank is liable in respect of frauds, irrespective of security, by phasing provisioning from the quarter of detection and completing it within four quarters; if the fraud is reported late to the Reserve Bank, the entire provisioning must be made immediately and the Reserve Bank may take supervisory action for delays in reporting or provisioning.

Government year end accounting requires banks to extend branch hours and preserve electronic processing to ensure same year posting.
Agency banks must keep counters of designated branches conducting government business open for the full day on the penultimate date and until 8.00 p.m. on the final date of the financial year, while electronic transactions will continue until midnight on the last date. Banks must give adequate publicity to these special arrangements. Separate guidelines on extended clearing sessions/operations for these dates will be issued by the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems.

March residual transactions ensure year end government receipts are recorded in the prior financial year when reported promptly.
Banks must ensure receipts and payments effected up to March 31 are recorded in the same financial year by segregating March transactions. From April 1-15, Nodal/Focal Point branches must prepare distinct daily main scrolls for March Residual Transactions (serially marked) and for April transactions, forward separate Daily Memos and summaries to departmental officers and the bank's Link Cell, which will transmit March Residual advices separately to the Reserve Bank's Central Accounts Section, Nagpur. Cheques realised on or before March 31 are March/Residual Transactions; those realised thereafter are April transactions.

Banks must apply risk based KYC/AML/CFT controls, report CTRs/STRs, preserve records and screen for sanctions.
Banks must maintain a board approved KYC/AML/CFT programme applying a risk based approach: adopt Customer Acceptance Policy, Customer Identification Procedures, ongoing transaction monitoring and record preservation; apply enhanced due diligence for higher risk customers (including PEPs, trusts, non face to face and non resident clients); file timely CTRs, STRs and CCRs to FIU IND; appoint a Principal Officer for monitoring and liaison; ensure wire transfers carry full originator information; screen and freeze accounts per UAPA/UN designated lists and preserve records for ten years.

MSME definition revised: banks must adopt investment based classifications and update lending, reporting and payment remedies.
The circular enacts the MSMED Act revisions by prescribing new investment-based thresholds for manufacturing and service enterprises, clarifying that lending to medium enterprises is excluded from the priority sector, requiring banks to implement the revised definitions immediately, replace earlier Master Circular provisions with the annexed text, compile and submit prescribed quarterly category-wise data, adopt comprehensive MSME lending policies, and apply strengthened delayed-payment remedies including compound interest and referral to facilitation councils for disputes.

Dividend payout ratio capped for banks; eligible banks may declare dividends only under prudential criteria and reporting obligations.
Banks may declare dividends only if they meet prudential eligibility criteria-minimum Capital Adequacy Ratio across relevant years, prescribed Net NPA thresholds, compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, adequate provisioning and transfers to statutory reserves, payment from current-year profits, and absence of explicit regulatory restrictions-and then only within a capped dividend payout ratio determined by a matrix linking allowable payout ranges to capital adequacy and Net NPA bands, with adjustments for extraordinary items, auditor qualifications and specified reserve shortfalls.

Dividend payout ratio cap limits bank dividend distributions; payouts within the cap require prudential compliance, higher sums need approval.
Regulatory guidance shifts focus to a dividend payout ratio, allowing banks that satisfy minimum prudential criteria-sustained capital adequacy, limited net NPA, statutory and regulatory compliance, adequate provisioning and no explicit RBI restrictions-to declare dividends without prior approval provided payouts are from current profits and within the prudential cap; extraordinary items and adverse auditor qualifications must be excluded or adjusted when computing the ratio. Higher dividends or declarations by non eligible banks require prior RBI approval. Reporting to the Reserve Bank within a fortnight is mandatory.