The Reserve Bank of India has issued the Reserve Bank of India (Small Finance Banks – Cash Reserve Ratio and Statutory Liquidity Ratio) Amendment Directions, 2025 to align the CRR and SLR framework with amendments introduced under the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025. A key change is the revised definition of “fortnight,” now fixed as the 1st–15th and 16th–end of every month, effective December 15, 2025. As a result, all CRR/SLR maintenance and reporting requirements in Form A and Form VIII have been updated, references to “Friday” replaced with “day,” provisional and final returns discontinued, paragraph 35 deleted, and a single unified Form A return mandated. Small Finance Banks must submit fortnightly Form A and monthly Form VIII electronically on the CIMS portal using dual digital signatures.
Transitional provisions require CRR/SLR maintenance for December 16–31, 2025 and January 1–15, 2026 based on NDTL of November 28 and December 15, 2025, respectively, before reverting to the standard method from January 16, 2026. A special transition window from December 13–15, 2025 mandates CRR/SLR maintenance based on NDTL of November 28, 2025 and minimum CRR of 100% of the requirement. Form A for December 12, 2025 must follow the old structure, while Form VIII for December 2025 must be filed using both old and new return codes. Conforming changes have also been made in Annexes I and II and to references relating to State Government Securities.
Link – https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=13225&Mode=0
