Last Monday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened up its bank regulations, especially the rules surrounding bank loan defaults. Many banks in India are having problems with bad loans, and the RBI is attempting to resolve these problems through several methods.

For one, they will be abolishing several loan-restructuring mechanisms, in order to speed up the resolution of these problems. They will also be pushing large loan defaulters toward bankruptcy courts, which will discourage others from making bad loans.

The RBI aims to create a “harmonized and simplified generic framework” with its new rules since the new rules will allow the resolution of stressed assets due to the new regulations on bankruptcy.

In 2016, the government of India enacted its first comprehensive bankruptcy regime. Last year, it gave even more powers to the RBI, so that they could deal with the $150 billion in troubled debt at banks.

This massive amount of money in troubled debt has slowed the economic growth of the country and has hindered new lending. After being given these powers by the government, the RBI forced 40 huge corporate loan defaulters into bankruptcy proceedings last year. Now, the new system will be able to force lenders to identify problems and tackle stressed-asset accounts more quickly.

The new rules state that banks must file for insolvency proceedings against loan defaulters with ₹2,000 crores or more unless a resolution plan is put in within 180 days of the initial occurrence.

If any banks fail to meet the timelines or conceal the actual statuses of people’s accounts, then the banks will be given potential monetary penalties and other penalties.

The RBI has also tightened the rules surrounding resolution plans, in order to protect people with large deposits from getting their account restructured or receiving a change in ownership.

With these new rules in place, India will be much more economically secure, in case of any financial crises.

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