Final guidelines on project loans likely in 2-3 months: RBI official

The final project loan guidelines are likely to be announced in the next two to three months, a senior RBI official said on Thursday. The norms regarding the Expected Credit Loss (ECL)-based provisioning are in an advanced stage of discussion, the official told reporters here.

The Reserve Bank of India has proposed to set aside 5 per cent of the total exposure to a project till the construction of the project is on. 

Fearing a hit to profits, banks have been asking for a relook into it, as per reports.

The RBI official said up to 60 responses have been received on the project loans draft, and the central bank is going through all the suggestions.

When asked about the timelines by when the final guidelines will come in, the official said it will take "at least 2-3 months", but did not give a specific answer on whether the guidelines will be implemented from April 1 next year onwards.

To a question on the ECL framework, the official said the norms are in the "advance stages" of discussion.

The official admitted that there is an "overlap" on both the ECL and project finance norms, but seemed non-committal on whether both the guidelines will come in together.

These are two concurrent streams running together, the official said, assuring that the RBI intends to be non-disruptive and take into account all the impact of the guidelines before finalising.

Meanwhile, on reports of higher delinquencies in microloans, the official said there is no systemic risk and entry-specific concerns are discussed bilaterally as part of the supervisory framework.

If some regulatory interventions are required, they are also initiated, the official said, citing the November 2023 regulations hiking risk weights on unsecured lending.

There is "nothing on the table" right now on the MFI sector, the official added.

If any action is taken, it will be for the entire sector and not entity-specific, the official clarified.

Speaking at the annual GFF here, RBI's chief general manager Vaibhav Chaturvedi asked financiers to be more "responsible" while engaging in their core lending activities and the industry to take steps towards this aim.

The offerings need to be transparent and the regulated entities' dealings need to be fair, he underlined.

At the same conference, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research professor Ashima Goyal said the credit deposit ratios in India are much lower than in other countries and the government borrows a lot of resources.