The Reserve Bank had issued the draft Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies – Branch Authorisation) Amendment Directions, 2026, seeking comments from NBFCs and other stakeholders till February 27, 2026. The draft instructions proposed to modify the extant guidelines on opening of branches as applicable to various categories of NBFCs (including HFCs).
2. Feedback received on the draft instructions has been examined and consequent modifications have been suitably incorporated in the final Amendment Directions. Statement on the feedback received on the draft instructions is provided in the Annex.
3. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank of India has today issued the Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies – Branch Authorisation) Amendment Directions, 2026 to amend the extant instructions relating to opening of branches by NBFCs. Consequently, relevant paragraphs of the Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Companies - Acceptance of Public Deposits) Directions, 2025 and the Reserve Bank of India (Housing Finance Companies) Directions, 2025, have also been suitably updated.
4. The objective of these Amendment Directions is to provide operational flexibility to NBFCs for branch expansion to facilitate ease of doing business while ensuring necessary regulatory compliance.
(Brij Raj) Chief General Manager
Press Release: 2026-2027/87