RBI issues revised guidelines to banks for engaging business correspondents
28 Sep 2010
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced revised guidelines to banks for engaging business correspondents for financial inclusion of the non-banking population through extension of banking services.
The new guidelines have been formulated based on the feedback received from various quarters on engaging BCs, RBI said in notification.
RBI said banks have been permitted to engage all registered companies, except non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), as business correspondents (BCs) in addition to the individuals/entities permitted earlier, subject to compliance with the guidelines.
As part of its annual policy statement, the RBI had placed a discussion paper on engagement of 'for profit' companies as BCs for achieving financial inclusion by extension of banking services.
These guidelines are applicable to all scheduled commercial banks, including regional rural banks (RRBs) and local area banks (LABs), RBI said.
RBI has now asked banks to formulate a policy for engaging business correspondents with the approval of their respective boards of directors.