RBI proposes to increase total liquid assets bar for housing finance firms

Mumbai, Jan 15, 2024 

The Reserve Bank of India proposed a phased transition towards further tightening regulations for housing finance companies (HFCs) to ensure they are treated at par with non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), the central bank said on Monday.

The RBI, in a draft circular, proposed all deposit-taking HFCs raise their total liquid assets, along with unencumbered approved securities, to 15% of public deposits, from 13% currently, by the end of March 2025.

"Since the regulatory concerns associated with deposit acceptance is same across all categories of NBFCs, it has been decided to move HFCs towards the regulatory regime on deposit acceptance as applicable to deposit-taking NBFCs and specify uniform prudential parameters," the RBI said.

The revised regulations are effective immediately, unless specified otherwise, the central bank said.

[The Business Standard]