The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued the Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Supervisory Returns) Directions, 2026 vide RBI/DoS/2026-27/415, DoS.CO.DSG.9/33.01.001/2026-27 dated 31 July 2026, effective immediately. The Directions apply to commercial banks and prescribe governance, oversight, data architecture, IT infrastructure, accuracy, integrity and operational requirements for supervisory reporting. Banks are required to submit supervisory returns through RBI’s online reporting platforms with accurate, complete and timely data, covering domestic and overseas operations, including IFSC Banking Units and Overseas Banking Units where applicable. The Directions prescribe timelines for weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly and specified returns, require reconciliation with internal records, maintenance of source records, greater automation in reporting, and monitoring of data quality. They also provide exceptions for specified returns, permit contingency email submissions when online portals are unavailable, empower RBI to introduce or withdraw returns, provide for penalties for non-compliance under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, repeal earlier supervisory return instructions, and preserve actions taken under the repealed directions.
Reserve Bank of India
RBI/DoS/2026-27/415
DoS.CO.DSG.9/33.01.001/2026-27 | Dated: July 31, 2026
Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Supervisory Returns) Directions, 2026
In exercise of powers conferred under Section 27 and Section 35-A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, Chapter III-A of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, and all other provisions / laws enabling the Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) in this regard, RBI being satisfied that it is necessary and expedient in the public interest so to do, hereby, issues Directions hereinafter specified.
Chapter I – Preliminary
A. Short Title and Commencement
1. These Directions shall be called the Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Supervisory Returns) Directions, 2026.
2. These Directions shall come into effect immediately upon issuance.
B. Applicability
3. These Directions shall be applicable to Commercial Banks (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘banks’ and individually as ‘bank’).
For the purpose of these Directions, ‘Commercial Banks’ means banking companies (other than Small Finance Banks, Payment Banks, and Local Area Banks), corresponding new banks, and the State Bank of India, as defined respectively under clauses (c), (da), and (nc) of Section 5 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
C. Definitions
4. In these Directions, unless the context states otherwise, the terms herein shall bear the meaning assigned to them below:
1. ‘Centralised Information Management System (CIMS)’ refers to an online platform of RBI for return submission, data dissemination, and other related purposes.
2. ‘Supervisory Returns’ refer to all periodic / ad-hoc data submitted to RBI in formats prescribed from time to time, irrespective of the technology platform, periodicity, and the mode of submission.
5. All other expressions unless defined herein shall have the same meaning as have been assigned to them under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, Banking Regulation Act, 1949, the Companies Act, 2013, or any statutory modification or re-enactment thereto or other regulations issued by RBI or the Glossary of Terms published by RBI or as used in commercial parlance, as the case may be.
Chapter II – Governance and Oversight
A. Role of the Board and Senior Management
6. The Board and Senior Management shall include the identification, assessment, and management of data quality risks as part of its overall risk management framework. The framework shall include standards for both in-house and outsourced risks for data-related processes, policies on data confidentiality, integrity, availability, and risk management.
7. The bank shall ensure that the risk data aggregation capabilities and risk reporting practices are fully documented and subjected to high standards of validation that are aligned with the bank’s other independent risk management reviews. Validation of risk data aggregation and risk reporting practices should be conducted by staff with specific Information Technology (IT), data, and reporting expertise. The Board and Senior Management shall ensure that adequate resources are deployed for this purpose.
8. The Board and Senior Management shall ensure that the ability of the bank to aggregate and report data at a consolidated level or at any relevant level within the organisation is not hindered by its group structure (e.g., sub-consolidated level, jurisdiction of operation level). Data aggregation and reporting shall be independent of the choices that the bank makes regarding its legal organisation and geographical presence, subject to the statutory limitations, if any.
9. While considering any acquisition / divestiture, new product development, IT change initiatives, the due diligence process shall consider the impact of such activities on data aggregation and reporting. In such cases, it shall be ensured that data aggregation and reporting facilities are integrated within the existing reporting framework within a timeframe.
B. Data Architecture and IT Infrastructure
10. The bank shall design, build, and maintain the data architecture and supporting IT infrastructure for complete, accurate, and timely data aggregation as well as reporting not only in normal times but also during times of stress or crisis.
11. The data aggregation and reporting practices shall be considered an essential part of the bank’s business continuity planning process and subject to a business impact analysis.
12. Roles and responsibilities shall be established among business owners and the IT team so as to ensure that the data is kept current and aligned with the data definitions and with the bank’s data reporting policies.
13. The bank should ensure that the resources and IT infrastructure are adequate to meet a broad range of on-demand, ad hoc reporting requests, including requests during stress / crisis event and to meet supervisory queries. The bank should be able to generate subsets of data based on scenarios requested by the Supervisors. For example, the bank should be able to accurately aggregate data on exposure for a particular period for a specific industry cluster in a district.
C. Accuracy and Integrity in Reporting
14. All returns / risk reports shall be reconciled with the bank’s own sources, including accounting data where appropriate, to ensure accuracy, consistency, and completeness of the same.
15. The bank shall maintain proper records of sources and aggregation rules for generating returns’ data.
16. The bank shall strive to achieve a higher degree of automation in the generation of data for filing of returns.
17. The bank should measure and monitor the accuracy of data and develop appropriate escalation channels and action plans to rectify any deterioration in data quality.
Chapter III – Filing of Supervisory Returns
A. Operational Guidelines
18. RBI has introduced various online portals, links to which are available on RBI website, for filing all applicable online returns by the bank. The bank shall submit all the returns through online mode in the formats and in the manner as communicated to them, unless specified otherwise. Returns submitted in hard copy format through hand delivery / post / courier, or in soft copy format through emails, shall not be accepted (i.e., would not be deemed to have been submitted by the bank), unless prescribed to be submitted in such format. As a contingency measure, in case of non-availability of online portals, the bank may be advised to submit the returns through email. However, the bank shall re-submit the return through online mode as soon as the online portal becomes available. The list of returns and periodicity are also available on RBI website.
19. The bank is provided with a Super User Credential for User with defined access rights who, in turn, can create other users (with different roles such as maker and checker) with required access rights. The bank can monitor the status of its returns’ submission on the portal. Return formats, guidance notes on returns filing, validation rules, help documents for submission of data are available on the respective reporting portals.
20. The bank shall report data on its domestic and overseas operations, including the operations of IFSC Banking Units (IBUs) and Overseas Banking Units (OBUs), wherever applicable.
B. List of Applicable Returns
21. The bank shall submit the applicable returns with accurate and complete data, strictly within the prescribed timelines as given below:
C. Timelines
22. The timelines with respect to Reference Date for submission of returns will depend on the frequency at which the return is to be submitted, unless mentioned otherwise. The timelines are given below:
| Periodicity | Reference Date | Timeline |
| Weekly | Every Friday (or preceding working day if Friday happens to be a holiday) | On or before Wednesday of the following week |
| Fortnightly | 15th day of a calendar month | Within seven days |
| Monthly | Last day of a calendar month | Within 15 days |
| Quarterly | Last day of the quarter | Within 21 days |
| Half-yearly | 31st March / 30th September | Within 21 days |
| Yearly | 31st March | Within 21 days |
Notes:
1. All audited returns, wherever applicable, shall be filed within five working days from the date of signing of the Auditor’s report in terms of Section 134 of the Companies Act, 2013 (solo / group level as per applicability of the return), as applicable.
2. All ad-hoc returns / data must be submitted within the timelines as indicated in the communication issued by RBI.
D. Exceptions
23. The timelines for submission of returns will depend on the frequency at which the return is to be submitted, except as mentioned below:
| Sr. No. | Return Name | Periodicity | Reference Date | Timeline |
| 1 | Consolidated Prudential Return (CPR) | Half-yearly | 31st March | (i) Provisional /unaudited data to be submitted by end-June(i) Audited data to be submitted by end- September |
| 30th September | End-December | |||
| 2 | BLR Return (Sheets BLR 3 and BLR 7) | Quarterly | 31st March /30th June /30th September /31st December | 15 days from the Reference Date at par with other sheets of BLR return |
| 3 | Allocation of branches to Statutory Branch Auditors (SBAs) | Yearly | 31st March | Within one month from the date of appointment of SBAs |
| 4 | Report on FinancialConglomerates |
Quarterly | 31st March / 30th June / 30th September / 31st December | Within 45 days |
| 5 | Half-yearly Review of Investment Portfolio |
Half-yearly | 31st March / 30th September | 15th June / 15th December |
| 6 | Red Flagged Account Return (RFA) | As and when | Detection Date | Within Seven days |
| 7 | Supervisory Return on Gold Metal Loans (GML) | Quarterly | 31st March / 30th June / 30th September / 31st December | Within Seven days |
| 8 | Fraud Monitoring Return (FMR) – SCBs | As and when | Fraud Classification Date | Within 14 days |
| 9 | FMR Update Application (FUA) | Update Date / Progress Date | Immediate | |
| 10 | Fraud Monitoring Return 4 (FMR4 / RBR) | Quarterly | 31st March / 30th June / 30th September / 31st December | Within 15 days |
| 11 | Vigilance Monitoring Return-I (VMR-I) | |||
| 12 | Vigilance Monitoring Return-II (VMR-II) |
E. Penalties
24. The bank shall furnish true and correct information in the returns prescribed in these Directions, within the stipulated timelines. In case the bank is found in violation of these Directions, RBI may take necessary action including imposition of a penalty / fine under the extant provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
F. Other Instructions
25. Ad-Hoc / Additional Returns: RBI may introduce new returns / withdraw existing returns (both ad-hoc / regular) for submission by the bank and inform suitably.
26. It is clarified that submission of other regulatory / statutory returns will not be affected by these Directions.
Chapter IV – Repeal and Other Provisions
A. Repeal and Saving
27. With the issue of these Directions, the existing directions, instructions, and guidelines relating to Supervisory Returns as applicable to Commercial Banks stand repealed, as the contents of the same have been incorporated in these Directions, as communicated vide circular no. DoS.CO.PPG.66/11.01.005/2026-27 dated July 31, 2026. The directions, instructions, and guidelines repealed prior to the issuance of these Directions shall continue to remain repealed.
28. Notwithstanding such repeal, any action taken or purported to have been taken, or initiated under the repealed directions, instructions, or guidelines shall continue to be governed by the provisions thereof. All approvals or acknowledgments granted under the repealed directions, instructions or guidelines shall be deemed as governed by these Directions. Further, the repeal of the directions, instructions, or guidelines shall not in any way prejudicially affect:
1. any right, obligation or liability acquired, accrued, or incurred thereunder;
2. any penalty, forfeiture, or punishment incurred in respect of any contravention committed thereunder;
3. any investigation, legal proceeding, or remedy in respect of any such right, privilege, obligation, liability, penalty, forfeiture, or punishment as aforesaid; and any such investigation, legal proceedings or remedy may be instituted, continued, or enforced and any such penalty, forfeiture or punishment may be imposed as if the directions, instructions, or guidelines had not been repealed.
B. Application of Other Laws Not barred
29. The provisions of these Directions shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of the provisions of any other laws, rules, regulations or directions, for the time being in force.
C. Interpretations
30. For the purposes of giving effect to the provisions of these Directions or for removing any difficulties in their application or interpretation, RBI may, if it deems necessary, issue such clarifications as it considers appropriate in respect of any matter covered herein. The interpretation of any provision of these Directions by RBI shall be final and binding on all concerned entities.
(Dr. Vijay Singh Shekhawat)
Chief General Manager
