RBI Draft Interest Rate Directions 2026: Is RBI Tightening NBFC Group Company Lending?
- Reading the RBI's proposed interest-rate framework beyond the headline The Reserve Bank of India’s proposed Reserve Bank of India (Interest Rates on Loans and Advances) Directions, 2026 may, at first glance, appear to be a technical exercise in consolidating the rules governing interest-rate determination. But a closer reading raises a broader regulatory question: Is RBI gradually moving towards a framework where an NBFC is expected to demonstrate genuine credit intermediation and risk-based lending, rather than merely functioning as a financing vehicle for its own group or promoter entities? The answer is not yet an outright “yes” in terms of a prohibition . The Draft Directions do not say that NBFCs cannot lend to subsidiaries, group companies or promoter entities. However, several elements of the proposed framework, when read together with RBI's existing regulatory architecture, point towards a stronge...