RBI Consolidates 9,000 Circulars into 244 Directions to Optimise Regulatory Framework

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced it has repealed 9,446 legacy circulars, replacing decades of fragmented instructions with a consolidated set of master directions aimed at improving regulatory clarity and easing compliance burdens for regulated entities.

RBI Deputy Governor SC Murmu said the central bank will now issue 244 master directions, a consolidated framework that absorbs regulations dating as far back as 1940. According to Murmu, the overhaul will offer each category of regulated entity a single, accessible reference point, cutting ambiguity and significantly lowering compliance costs.

Areas of Application

The scale of the exercise was substantial. The Department of Regulation undertook a comprehensive review, during which 3,809 circulars were subsumed into the new master directions while 5,673 were repealed as obsolete.

The directions span up to 30 functional areas and apply across 11 types of regulated entities, including commercial banks, regional rural banks, small-finance and payments banks, cooperative banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), all-India financial institutions, asset reconstruction companies and credit-information companies.

Who Benefits?

The master directions will consolidate rules for entities including: commercial banks, small-finance banks, payments banks, regional rural banks, urban and rural cooperative banks, all-India financial institutions, non-banking financial companies, asset reconstruction companies and credit-information companies.

The RBI noted that commercial-bank instructions alone are now covered under 32 master directions, meaning banks will have a single reference point rather than hundreds of scattered circulars.

Regulated entities have long complained that a large volume of overlapping and outdated circulars makes compliance costly and opaque. The RBI said the consolidation will reduce ambiguity, make it easier for firms to determine which instructions apply to them, and create a clearer basis for future updates: “From here on, we will add to what has been built as a foundation,” Murmu said.

RBI materials accompanying the announcement refer to both 244 and 238 master directions in different places; officials described the exercise as being carried out “on an ‘as-is’ basis” and indicated some technical adjustments were made while finalising the directions.