The Reserve Bank has issued today the following draft Amendment Directions relating to review of methodology for identification of NBFCs in Upper Layer (NBFC-UL), inclusion of Government owned NBFCs as NBFC-UL and other related aspects.

1. The draft ‘Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies – Registration, Exemptions and Framework for Scale Based Regulation) Second Amendment Directions, 2026’; and

2. The draft ‘Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies - Concentration Risk Management) Third Amendment Directions, 2026’

2. The feedback / comments on the draft Amendment Directions are invited from the NBFCs, members of public and all other relevant stakeholders till May 04, 2026. The feedback / comments may be submitted through the link under the ‘Connect 2 Regulate’ Section available on RBI’s website or may alternatively be forwarded to:

Chief General Manager - in - Charge
Department of Regulation (SIG-NBFCs)
Reserve Bank of India
12th Floor, Central Office Building
Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Fort, Mumbai – 400 001

Or

by email

With the subject line ‘Feedback on the draft Amendment Directions on review of methodology for identification of NBFC-UL and inclusion of Government NBFCs in NBFC-UL’.

Background and Objective

The Scale Based Regulatory (SBR) Framework for NBFCs prescribes a two-pronged methodology for identification of NBFC-UL viz., top ten eligible NBFCs by asset size and parametric scoring methodology. With a view to adopt a transparent, simple and absolute criteria for identification of NBFC-UL, it is proposed to replace the existing methodology with asset size criteria, which is currently proposed as ₹1,00,000 crore and above. Further, the SBR Framework currently places Government owned NBFCs in the Base Layer or Middle Layer and not in the Upper Layer. In pursuance of the principle of ownership neutral regulatory regime for NBFCs, it is now proposed to consider eligible Government owned NBFCs also for inclusion in the list of NBFC-UL based on the revised criteria. Additionally, it is proposed to allow all NBFC-UL to use State Government guarantees as credit risk transfer instrument without any limit subject to the specified conditions.

(Brij Raj)           
Chief General Manager

NBFC Upper Layer identification shifts to asset-size criteria, with government-owned NBFCs proposed for inclusion. The Reserve Bank has proposed amendment directions to revise the methodology for identification of NBFCs in the Upper Layer under the Scale Based Regulatory framework and to align the framework with a more transparent asset-size based criterion. The existing two-pronged approach of top ten eligible NBFCs by asset size and parametric scoring is proposed to be replaced by a single threshold of asset size, presently indicated as Rs. 1,00,000 crore and above, for determining NBFC-UL status. The proposed changes also seek to bring eligible Government-owned NBFCs into consideration for inclusion in the NBFC-UL list on the basis of the revised criteria, reflecting an ownership-neutral regulatory approach.