The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has initiated a major effort to consolidate its regulatory framework to reduce compliance burden and enhance accessibility for regulated entities. The RBI’s Department of Regulation has reorganized existing instructions issued up to October 9, 2025, into 238 Draft Master Directions/Guidelines, categorized across 11 types of regulated entities and up to 30 functional areas. This consolidation exercise is expected to lead to the repeal of approximately 9,000 circulars (including previous Master Circulars/Directions). The RBI has published the drafts of these 238 Master Directions and the corresponding list of circulars proposed for repeal on its website, inviting feedback from stakeholders regarding their completeness and accuracy. Comments must be submitted via the ‘Connect 2 Regulate’ section or by email before the deadline of November 10, 2025. The RBI has specified that feedback requesting modification or review of the instructions will not be considered during this consolidation process.
Reserve Bank of India
Consolidation of Regulations – Drafts for comments
The Reserve Bank has constantly endeavoured to optimise its regulatory framework with a focus inter alia on reducing the regulatory burden and compliance costs, apart from timely re-evaluation of the currency of existing instructions.
Pursuant to the above, the Reserve Bank has undertaken a comprehensive exercise of consolidating the regulatory instructions currently administered by the Department of Regulation, on ‘as is’ basis. The existing universe of regulatory instructions issued up to October 9, 2025 have been consolidated into 238 Master Directions, across 11 types of regulated entities on up to 30 functions / areas. Consequently, approximately 9000 circulars (including Master Circulars / Master Directions) administered by the Department of Regulation will be repealed.
A detailed background and explanation of the approach adopted can be found here.
This exercise is expected to significantly improve the accessibility of regulatory instructions for the regulated entities, thereby reducing their compliance cost. Also, consolidation of regulatory instructions separately for each type of regulated entities will improve the clarity on applicability of each instruction to a regulated entity.
Accordingly, the Reserve Bank has placed on its website the following sets of draft documents for comments regarding completeness and accuracy:
1. Drafts of the 238 consolidated Master Directions / Guidelines
2. List of the circulars proposed to be repealed
The comments / feedback may be submitted on or before November 10, 2025 through the following channels:
1. The ‘Connect 2 Regulate’ section on the website by following the corresponding hyperlink provided against each document in the page where they are hosted or
2. by email with the subject line ‘Feedback on (full name of the draft Master Direction / Guideline (including the type of Regulated Entity))’.
Feedback / suggestions for modification / review of instructions shall not be considered in this exercise.
(Brij Raj)
Chief General Manager
Press Release: 2025-2026/1291
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Explanatory Note on Consolidation of Regulations
Background
1. Over the past few decades, under the prevailing regulatory paradigms at various points in time and following a progressive expansion of regulatory perimeter, a plethora of directions have been issued by the Reserve Bank under statutory powers conferred under multiple Acts, which were made applicable to regulated entities to varying degrees. While increase in complexity of regulatory framework over time is a natural process, fragmentation in regulatory and supervisory powers / jurisdictions over certain regulated entities and gaps in clear or formal supersession or repeal of previous directions when new directions were issued have added to the complexity of the regulatory framework.
2. The present exercise of consolidation carries forward the work carried out by the Regulations Review Authority (RRA), which was set up for reviewing the regulations, circulars, reporting systems, based on the feedback from public, banks and financial institutions, as announced in the press release dated April 15, 2021. It may be recalled that the RRA had inter alia recommended the withdrawal of 714 circulars and discontinuation / merger / conversion to online submission of 65 returns.
Approach taken for consolidation
3. The Master Directions have been prepared separately for each type of regulated entity. For this purpose, 11 types of regulated entities have been considered: (a) Commercial Banks; (b) Small Finance Banks; (c) Payments Banks; (d) Local Area Banks; (e) Regional Rural Banks; (f) Urban Co-operative Banks; (g) Rural Co-operative Banks; (h) All India Financial Institutions; (i) Non-Banking Financial Companies; (j) Asset Reconstruction Companies; and (k) Credit Information Companies. These have been further organised around 30 functions / areas of regulatory instructions across these 11 types of Regulated Entities.
4. The consolidation involves all the regulatory instructions administered by the Department of Regulation of the Reserve Bank. Thus, the universe of consolidation includes instructions issued by the Department of Regulation (DoR) as well as the erstwhile Departments which have since been merged into DoR either partly or fully.
5. The consolidation has been done on an ‘as-is’ basis, with only select editorial interventions to update terminologies or to remove ambiguities in the existing language, i.e., there has been no review of instructions.
6. The extant instructions considered as obsolete or anachronistic have not been included in the consolidated Master Directions and will be repealed.
7. Regulatory instructions issued by NABARD to Regional Rural Banks, State Central Co-operative Banks and Central Co-operative Banks have also been consolidated in consultation with NABARD.
8. Circulars / instructions issued on areas such as scheduling of banks; changes in names of banks; AML / TF list updates; changes in CRR / SLR; etc. have been retained as standalone circulars, and aggregated for ease of reference.
Format of the consolidated Master Directions
9. The consolidated Master Directions have been drafted in a continuous-flow approach where the major elements of a Master Direction have been included in the main body. Accordingly, the following major drafting modifications have been made as compared to the existing approach followed by the Reserve Bank:
- Advisory elements have been included as a part of the main text using appropriate language conveying the advisory nature of the instructions.
- FAQs have been rationalised. The extant FAQs which included regulatory instructions have been converted into Paragraphs of a Master Direction. The FAQs, which convey regulatory clarity or illustrate applications of regulatory principles, have been brought within the text after the appropriate paragraph.
- Illustrations have also been brought within the text after the appropriate paragraph rather than included as Annexures to a Master Direction.
- Annexures to a Master Direction have been largely limited to Formats / Forms.
- Instructions pertaining to the responsibilities of the Board have been aggregated at a single place in each Master Direction.
10. The regulatory instructions have been organised into separate Master Directions for each type of Regulated Entity on each regulatory area / function. In addition, residual regulatory instructions have been consolidated in a separate Miscellaneous Master Direction for each Regulated Entity.
