Overview

India’s BFSI landscape continues to evolve, with regulatory reforms, digital innovation, and shifting market dynamics redefining the way financial services operate. This edition brings you the key developments shaping the sector in April 2026. 

Banks and NBFCs: 

  • RBI proposed exempting non-deposit-taking NBFCs with assets below INR 1,000 Cr, no public funds, and no customer interface from mandatory registration requirements. The move aims to reduce compliance burden for smaller entities/family offices while allowing RBI to retain supervisory oversight if risks emerge. This reflects RBI’s broader push toward proportionate regulation under its scale-based framework 

Broking and Capital Markets: 

  • SEBI proposed revising how brokers calculate variable net worth, linking capital requirements to both client fund balances and active client base, replacing the older methodology that was based largely on client cash retained by brokers 

  • Under the proposal, brokers must maintain 10% of average client credit balances over the past six months, while brokers with more than 10,000 active clients would need an additional INR 50 L net worth 

  • Further incremental capital requirements would apply based on higher client additions, including clients onboarded through authorised persons 

Cards and payments: 

  • RBI released the Digital Payments – E-mandate Framework, 21st Apr’26. The revised framework allows recurring payments up to INR 15K without additional authentication and raises the limit to INR 1 L for insurance premiums, mutual fund subscriptions, and credit card bill payments, while also mandating pre-debit notifications and allowing users to modify or revoke mandates 

Insurance: 

  • The Government of India amended the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-Debt Instruments) Rules on 2nd May’26, formally notifying up to 100% foreign investment in insurance companies and intermediaries under the automatic route, up from the earlier 74% cap. However, foreign investment in Life Insurance Corporation of India remains capped at 20%. The notification operationalises the reform framework that was already introduced earlier