Reserve Bank of India has been keeping an eye on NBFCs for a long time. This is also the reason why RBI is continuously busy in tightening the rules regarding NBFCs. The news that has come now is even bigger. RBI is going to take more strict steps to crack down on the country’s big NBFCs. RBI has proposed changes in the criteria for identifying large non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Under this, it has been proposed to adopt asset base instead of the previous standard-based system and include Sarsakari NBFCs in it. Let us also tell you what kind of steps have been proposed to be taken by RBI.
This is how upper layer NBFC will be decided
According to the draft of the Reserve Bank of India (Registration, Exemption and Size-Based Regulation Framework of Non-Banking Financial Companies) Second Amendment Instructions, 2026, NBFCs with assets of more than Rs 1 lakh crore will be considered upper-layer. The draft released on the RBI website said that in order to adopt transparent, simple and complete criteria for identification of NBFC-Upper Layer, it is proposed to replace the existing methodology with asset size criteria, which is currently proposed to be Rs 1 lakh crore and above. This draft has come at a time when there is a lot of discussion on the listing of Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group, which manufactures everything from salt to software. All eyes are on whether this main investment company will get any relief.
Government companies will also be involved
According to RBI rules, it is mandatory for big 15 institutions to be listed. Despite being included in this list, only Tata Sons has not been listed even after the deadline of October 2025 has passed. The draft also proposes to include government-owned NBFCs in the high-level list. It said that currently the size-based regulation framework places government NBFCs in the ‘lower-tier’ or ‘middle-tier’ and not in the ‘upper-tier’. Under the principle of ownership neutral regulatory regime for NBFCs, it is now proposed to include eligible public sector NBFCs in the list of NBFC-UL based on the revised norms.
Update on Tata Sons
As of March 2025, the asset base of Tata Sons was Rs 1.75 lakh crore. Many government undertakings, which are quite large in size, were till now excluded from the ‘high-tier’ list. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra had said on Wednesday that the Reserve Bank will come out with a revised framework on NBFCs. The draft also proposes that all NBFC-ULs be permitted to use State Government guarantee as a credit risk transfer instrument without any limit, subject to certain conditions. Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday announced that the Reserve Bank will come out with a revised framework for NBFCs. He made this announcement when he was asked for an update on Tata Sons’ compliance with the previous instructions.