Deposit Norms

If a non-banking financial company receives any amount from an individual or a firm or an association of individuals not being a body corporate, registered under any enactment relating to money-lending which is in force, such borrowings do not fall within the definition of the term deposits under Section 45-I(bb) in Chapter III B of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. These may, therefore, remain outside the ambit of restrictive provisions under respective RBI directions.

Conversely, however, borrowings from money lenders received by a non-banking non-financial company do not attract such specific exemption in Section 58A of the Companies Act, 1956.

Under deposit rules, therefore, these are required to be treated as deposits for the purposes of applicable restrictive provisions thereunder.

This anomaly defies perception and logic, moreso because the same authority the RBI plays a major role in evolving the policy for regulating acceptance of deposits by the corporate sector.