RBI to come out with new NBFC framework amid lack of clarity on Tata Sons’ listing
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday announced that the monetary authority will be coming out with a new framework for non-bank lenders amid a lack of clarity over Tata Sons’ listing issue.
“We are coming up with a new framework for the NBFCs. Very soon, we should,” Malhotra told reporters at the customary post-policy review press conference. On a specific question on Tata Sons, Malhotra said the new framework will categorise non-banking finance companies. He, however, did not elaborate further on the matter, which has been tracked intensely because the RBI is likely to decide if Tata Sons, the holding company of the salts-to-software conglomerate, continues to be privately held or is forced to list.
As per the existing rules from the RBI, Tata Sons, a core investment company, should have been listed by September 30 last year because it is included in a set of 15 entities in the upper layer bracket. Barring Tata Sons, all other entities have complied with the provision.
Previously, Malhotra had said that an entity can continue doing business till its license is cancelled and declined any further comment, even though the timeline for mandatory listing has passed.
Getting listed will thrust a slew of compliance burdens focused towards more disclosures on Tata Sons, while some argue that complying with the asks may be difficult for the diversified corporate grouping, which is present across a slew of businesses at various levels of maturity.
A listing will come as a huge positive for the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the single largest private owner in the conglomerate, with over 18 per cent, which is going through financial turbulence.
Meanwhile, Malhotra declined to comment when asked about the arrest of Fino Payments Bank’s chief executive Rishi Gupta, and if it will hamper its ambitions to convert into a small finance bank, for which the RBI has given an in-principle nod previously.
