The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced a major step in strengthening India’s regulatory architecture by setting up a Regulatory Review Cell (RRC) (effective October 1, 2025) and an Advisory Group on Regulation (AGR).
This builds on the Framework for Formulation of Regulations (issued on May 7, 2025), which laid down broad principles for transparent, consultative, and impact-driven regulation-making.
The Framework (May 2025):
Standardizes the process of issuing and amending regulations across RBI.
Mandates public consultation, requiring draft regulations to be published with objectives, enabling provisions, and impact analysis, followed by at least 21 days for stakeholder feedback.
Calls for systematic impact analysis before finalization.
Provides for periodic review of regulations, considering effectiveness, global standards, supervisory experience, and scope for simplification.
Regulatory Review Cell (RRC): Will review all RBI regulations every 5–7 years, in a phased manner.
Advisory Group on Regulation (AGR): Comprising of eminent external experts from across the BFSI sector, the AGR will channel industry feedback into the regulatory review process. Members include:
- Shri Rana Ashutosh Kumar Singh, MD, SBI (Chairman)
- Shri T. T. Srinivasaraghavan, Former MD, Sundaram Finance Ltd.
- Shri Gautam Thakur, Chairman, Saraswat Co-op Bank Ltd.
- Shri Shyam Srinivasan, Former MD & CEO, Federal Bank Ltd.
- Shri Ravi Duvvuru, Former President & CCO, Jana Small Finance Bank Ltd.
- Shri N. S. Kannan, Former MD & CEO, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
Why this matters:
Together, the Framework (May 2025) and the RRC–AGR mechanism (Sept 2025) represent a shift towards principle-based, consultative, and periodically reviewed regulation-making. This ensures RBI’s regulations remain relevant, effective, and aligned with global best practices, while enhancing stakeholder trust in the regulatory process.
The link of the Press Release is available here: https://website.rbi.org.in/documents/87730/39710918/PRRegulatoryReviewMechanism.pdf/f10b5113-68e6-4414-31fa-f10f5bbecbdc
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