The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued the Reserve Bank of India (Digital Lending) Directions, 2025, consolidating and streamlining its regulatory framework for digital lending by Regulated Entities (REs) such as banks and non-banking financial companies. This comprehensive set of guidelines brings together all previous circulars and directions on digital lending, aiming to enhance regulatory oversight, improve transparency, and protect consumer interests in India’s rapidly expanding digital credit ecosystem.
For the first time, the new Directions include two significant aspects: transparency in the aggregation of loan products from multiple lenders and the operationalisation of a Public Directory of Digital Lending Apps (DLAs). The transparency guidelines require digital lending platforms that aggregate loans from multiple lenders to disclose all relevant information, enabling borrowers to make informed decisions and ensuring responsible lending practices.
Additionally, the RBI has mandated that all regulated entities report details of their DLAs through the Centralised Information Management System (CIMS) portal. This portal will be available for reporting from May 13, 2025, and REs must upload their initial data by June 15, 2025. The public directory of DLAs will be accessible on the RBI website by July 1, 2025, allowing customers to verify the legitimacy and association of digital lending apps with regulated entities. The list will be updated automatically as REs add or remove their DLAs, based on the data they submit to the RBI.
The guidelines also reinforce key consumer protection measures, such as requiring lenders to provide a Key Fact Statement (KFS) in simple language, ensuring digitally signed documents are sent to borrowers automatically, and making all digital lending product information, grievance mechanisms, and privacy policies publicly available on the lender’s website.
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These consolidated directions are expected to reduce consumer risk, promote more responsible lending behavior, and bring greater clarity and uniformity to digital lending practices across the sector.
