RBI Governor announces additional measures to protect customers: ₹25,000 for digital frauds, scheme reviews & more

RBI seeks to ‘empower customers’ — What this entails

• In his address, the RBI Governor said that with view of customer protection, the central bank will issue three draft guidelines:

1. relating to mis-selling;
2. regarding recovery of loans and engagement of recovery agents;
3. and on limiting liability of customers in un-authorised electronic banking transactions.

• “It is also proposed to introduce a framework to compensate customers up to an amount of ₹25000/- for loss incurred in small-value fraudulent transactions,” he added.
• Further, the RBI will also publish a discussion paper on possible measures to enhance the safety of digital payments. “Such measures may include lagged credits and additional authentication for specific class of users like senior citizens,” he added.

Advancing financial inclusion and flow of credit

• Malhotra said the authority has completed comprehensive review of Lead Bank Scheme (LBS), Kisan Credit Card Scheme and the Business Correspondent Model, and “shall issue draft revised guidelines with respect to them”.
• A unified reporting portal will also be launched by us for better management of LBS data.
• The limit of ₹10 lakh for collateral-free loans to MSMEs is proposed to be increased to ₹20 lakh.
• To further promote financing to real estate sector, it is proposed to allow banks to lend to REITs with certain prudential safeguards.

Strengthening UCBs: Four measures announced

Of these new measures, Malhotra said the first two pertain to raising the financial limits on unsecured loans and loans to nominal members by UCBs. “We also propose to remove the tenor and moratorium related requirements on housing loans given by Tier III and Tier IV UCBs,” he added.

Further, to strengthen the managerial and technical capacity of the UCBs, “we shall launch Mission-SAKSHAM (Sahakari Bank Kshamta Nirman). The mission intends to train over 1.4 lakh participants from UCBs”, he said.

Promoting Ease of doing business for NBFCs

Malhotra announced that NBFCs having no public funds and customer interface, with asset size not exceeding ₹1000 crore, are proposed to be exempted from the requirement of registration.

“Moreover, it is proposed to dispense with the requirement for certain NBFCs to obtain prior approval to open more than 1000 branches,” he added.

Deepening financial markets

On the financial markets, the RBI Governor noted that the central bank had earlier issued revised draft regulations for ECBs (External Commercial Borrowings). “They have been finalized and shall be notified shortly,” he stated.

“We also propose to remove the limit of ₹ 2.5 lakh crore for investments under the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR). Investment through the VRR in each category of securities will be subject to the investment ceiling for the respective category under the General Route,” he added.

Malhotra added that following Budget 2026, RBI also proposes regulatory framework for derivatives on corporate bond indices and total return swaps on corporate bonds; and draft revised guidelines for Authorised Dealer banks and stand-alone primary dealers (SPDs), allowing them more flexibility in undertaking foreign exchange transactions.