The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has reviewed and strengthened its framework on internet banking services offered by IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) through its circular dated December 29, 2025. The circular categorises internet banking into information services, interactive information exchange services, and transactional services, and prescribes specific compliance requirements for each. IBUs not offering liability products are exempt from interactive and transactional service requirements, while new IBUs must comply before offering such products. Existing IBUs are required to achieve compliance by June 30, 2026, failing which they must stop onboarding new liability-product customers from July 1, 2026. The circular mandates explicit customer consent for internet banking registration, enhanced transparency on currencies, cut-off timings, real-time dashboards, downloadable machine-readable statements, and robust transactional safeguards such as dual-factor authentication, beneficiary whitelisting, currency conversion tools, scheduled payments, and validation checks. These directions are issued under the IFSCA Act, 2019, reinforcing digital governance, customer protection, and operational resilience in IFSC banking.
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES CENTRES AUTHORITY
Circular No. IFSCA-FMPP0BR/5/2024-Banking | Dated: December 29, 2025
Internet banking services to clients of IBUs –Review
1. Please refer to the Authority’s circular entitled “Internet banking services to clients of IBUs” dated April 22, 2024 (“the circular”).
2. On a review, it has been decided to lay down specific compliance requirements with respect to the various types of internet banking services mentioned in the circular namely Information service, Interactive information exchange service and Transactional service.
3. An IBU that does not offer liability products to its customers shall be exempt from implementing the requirements mandated in the circular with respect to Interactive information exchange service and Transactional service.
4. An IBU commencing operations after the date of issue of this circular shall not offer liability products to its customers without complying with the requirements of the circular.
5. An IBU that commenced operations prior to the date of this circular shall comply with the requirements of the circular by June 30, 2026 and, on failure to do so, cease onboarding new customers for liability products from July 1, 2026.
6. IBUs shall obtain explicit consent from their customers for registering/de-registering (in case of existing customers) for internet banking services and such consent shall be duly recorded/documented.
7. Information service
i. In addition to the information to be provided as per the circular, IBUs shall prominently display the list of specified currencies in which transactions are being offered by them to their customers including the facility to convert among such currencies.
ii. IBUs shall clearly communicate the cut-off timing, if any, for executing transactions with the value date being the date of the transaction.
8. Interactive information exchange service
i. IBUs shall make available a unified digital banking dashboard to their customers providing, at minimum;
a. the ability to view real-time balances across all linked accounts;
b. the ability to view live market rates for currency conversions including the applicable spread offered to its customers;
c. the ability to view and download account statements in machine-readable formats (e.g. CSV, JSON, XML) with unique transaction reference, timestamps and beneficiary details;
d. the ability to provide disposal instructions for inward remittances received;
e. the ability to apply for premature withdrawal of deposits;
f. SMS alerts of transactions (where the customer seeks for such a service) for customers having a registered number with a telecom service provider in India. Where facility for SMS based alerts is not found to be feasible facility to intimate the customer through email alerts shall be provided.
9. Transactional service
i. Transactional services provided through the internet banking platform of the IBU shall, at minimum, have the following features:
a. Dual-layer authentication (by means of hardware tokens and/or OTPs);
b. Ability to initiate the transfer of funds between accounts held with the same IBU;
c. Ability to make payments to third parties holding accounts with the same IBU;
d. Ability to initiate payments to third parties holding accounts with another IBU or Bank;
e. Ability to create Fixed Deposits;
f. For Corporate customers holding Current accounts, at the request of the customer, facility of user access management including Master user access who may create or change roles (e.g., Maker-Checker), restrict access to specific accounts etc.;
g. Ability to create pre-approved beneficiary lists including whitelisting options;
h. Ability to provide white-listing options for IBU’s fintech partners;
i. Ability to initiate currency conversion for pairs mentioned in 7.(i) ;
j. Ability to initiate auto-schedule payouts including one-time, date based, recurring, rule- based executions;
k. Validation tools to identify incorrect account numbers to the extent feasible, currency mismatches, or regulatory non-compliance for e.g. the account is in a FATF compliant jurisdiction etc., before execution.
10. These directions are issued in exercise of the powers conferred on the Authority by Section12 and Section 13 of the IFSCA Act, 2019 read with Section 35A of the Banking regulation Act, 1949.
Yours faithfully,
(Supriyo Bhattacharjee)
Chief General Manager
Department of Banking
