Tata Sons, Bajaj Finance among 16 NFBCs put in RBI's upper layer list

HDFC, although qualified to be in the upper layer, has been kept out of the list as it is merging with HDFC Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday released a list of large non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) including Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group, who have been put in the “upper layer” under the scale based regulatory framework that was released last year.

As many as sixteen NBFCs have been put in the list and have been asked by the regulator to put in place a board approved policy for adoption of the increased regulatory framework applicable to them.

Apart from Tata Sons Private, almost all large NBFCs, including Bajaj Finance, LIC Housing Finance, Shriram Transport Finance, L&T Finance, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance, PNB Housing Finance, Tata Capital, Aditya Birla Finance, HDB Financial Services and Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services have been put in the upper layer.

Further Indiabulls Housing Finance, Bajaj Housing Finance, Muthoot Finance, Sanghvi Finance, Cholamandalam Investment & Finance have made it to the upper layer. Interestingly Tata Sons Private, a core investment.company, has also been put in the upper layer thus will have to follow increased regulatory norms on investment and raising funds. 

HDFC Ltd although qualified to be in the upper layer has been kept out of it deliberately given it is merging with HDFC Bank.

The NBFCs mentioned by the RBI have to put in place a board approved policy for adoption of the enhanced regulatory framework applicable to NBFC-upper layer and chart out an implementation plan for adhering to the new set of regulations within three months, RBI said.

Further, the board of these NBFCs will have to ensure that the stipulations prescribed for the NBFC upper layer are adhered to within a maximum time-period of 24 months.

Under RBI’s scale-based regulations for NBFCs, the finance companies have been categorised into four layers based on their size, activity, and perceived riskiness -- base layer; middle layer; upper layer; and top layer.

The upper layer comprises those NBFCs which are specifically identified by the RBI as warranting enhanced regulatory requirement based on a set of parameters and scoring methodology. And the top ten eligible NBFCs in terms of their asset size shall always reside in the upper layer, irrespective of any other factor, the RBI had said.