The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a consolidated set of master directions that replaces thousands of legacy circulars.

The initiative is designed to streamline compliance and improve the ease of doing business across the financial sector.

The RBI has recently undertaken a fundamental reorganisation of the regulatory instructions administered by its department of regulation, marking a shift in its regulatory communication. This consolidation addresses the complexities built up over years of incremental rule-making as the financial system evolved.

The central bank has merged more than 9,000 circulars and guidelines previously issued through its department of regulation into 238 function-specific master directions, each aligned with distinct categories of regulated entities such as commercial banks, non-banking financial companies, small finance banks, payments banks, cooperative banks, asset reconstruction firms and credit information companies.

A parallel consolidation of Nabard’s instructions covering rural and cooperative banks was also completed as part of the exercise.

By grouping roughly 3,500 operative circulars into 238 master directions and identifying obsolete ones for repeal, the RBI aims to create a clearer, more navigable regulatory landscape.