Summary: The RBI has released the Draft Guidance on Regulatory Expectations for Data Governance, proposing a comprehensive enterprise-wide framework applicable across banks, NBFCs, payment banks, co-operative banks, CICs, and other regulated entities. The Draft Guidance emphasises board oversight, defined data governance roles, lifecycle-based controls, SSOT architecture, metadata and lineage management, data classification, data quality processes
Summary: As artificial intelligence reshapes the contours of India’s financial landscape, regulated entities find themselves navigating a delicate balance between harnessing transformative innovation and managing its inherent risks spanning algorithmic bias, model opacity, and systemic concentration. The RBI’s establishment of the FREE-AI committee signals a decisive regulatory commitment to responsible AI governance, anchored in principles of accountability, fairness, and explainability. The paper ultimately calls upon regulated entities to embed these imperatives at the very foundation of their AI frameworks, underpinned by robust data governance and a culture of institutional vigilance.
Continue Reading FIG Paper No 59 – AI in Indian Financial Services: Balancing Innovation with Accountability and Regulation
The Foreign Exchange Department, Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”), on May 13, 2026, issued a circular titled ‘Operating framework for facilitating Outward Remittance services by non-bank entities through Authorized Dealer (Category I) Banks (“AD Banks”) in India’ (“Outward Remittance Circular”), which:
Continue Reading FIG Paper No 58: RBI Issues Operating Framework for Facilitating Outward Remittance Services by Non-Bank Entities
Summary: SEBI has recently approved various rule changes for intermediaries such as stock-brokers, REITs/ InvITs, IAs, RAs, FPIs, and angel funds, with a view to ease entry norms and compliance obligations, provide flexibility and to attract more retail and foreign investments. This paper summarises the key changes and their implications for intermediaries.
Continue Reading FIG Paper No. 50: Recent SEBI Changes – Implications for Intermediaries
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector constituted approximately 10% of all M&A activity in India in 2024, exceeding USD 12.1 billion[1] in value, making it the second highest among all sectors. Infrastructure and BFSI are expected to continue driving M&A deal activity in India. Recently, India is seeing several large M&A transactions involving complex structuring, regulatory approvals on account of change in control, bespoke due diligence and documentation considerations and nuanced approach to regulatory interface before and after deal signing to obviate deal failure risks. Basis our recent experience, and change in control provisions applicable to banks, non-banks, payment system operators (PSOs), mutual funds and insurance players, this paper provides an overview of the specific deal and change in control linked regulatory approvals and learnings / considerations relevant from a transaction structuring and deal execution perspective, across each of the BFSI verticals.
Continue Reading FIG Paper no. 48: Change in Control & Learnings in FIG space
Of India’s overall credit market, non-banking financial companies (“NBFCs”) command a 22% share[1], primarily catering to underserved sectors and providing retail loans, particularly to small businesses and households. As NBFCs have become systemically important for the economy, they have been subject to increased regulatory oversight by the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”), evidenced by the introduction of scale-based regulations, which prescribe differential regulatory norms basis size and scale of the NBFC. This FIG paper explores the recent regulatory trends in this sector.
Continue Reading FIG Paper (No. 42 – Series 1) – Regulatory Trends in NBFC Sector
Background:
