The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on July 31, 2026, issued the Reserve Bank of India (Payments Banks - Supervisory Returns) Directions, 2026.
These Directions shall come into effect on July 31, 2026.
The following has been stated:
• The Directions establish a comprehensive framework for the submission of supervisory returns by Payments Banks to enable effective regulatory supervision by the RBI. The Directions apply to all Payments Banks and prescribe governance standards for data quality, risk data aggregation, reporting accuracy, and IT infrastructure, with overall oversight by the Board of Directors and Senior Management. They require banks to maintain robust data architecture, ensure complete and accurate reporting, automate reporting processes, and preserve proper records and audit trails.
• The Directions also provide for the electronic submission of supervisory returns through RBI's designated online portals, prescribe 16 supervisory returns covering areas such as assets and liabilities, operating results, liquidity, capital adequacy, interest rate sensitivity, ownership, investment portfolio, customer complaints, financial soundness, and fraud monitoring, and specify timelines for monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly, and event-based reporting.
• They further empower the RBI to introduce additional returns, prescribe penalties for delayed or incorrect submissions, and repeal the earlier supervisory return framework while preserving actions taken under the previous directions.
[Notification no. – RBI/DoS/2026-27/433 DoS.CO.DSG.27/33.01.001/2026-27]
