{"id":91089,"date":"2026-11-14T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/?p=91089"},"modified":"2026-11-14T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T10:00:00","slug":"nbfc-registration-kolkata-rbi-net-owned-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxaj.com/learn\/nbfc-registration-kolkata-rbi-net-owned-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"NBFC Registration in Kolkata (2026): Net Owned Fund, Principal Business Test, RBI Process and the Type I Exemption Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

A company that carries on lending or investment as its principal business must register with the Reserve Bank of India as a non-banking financial company (NBFC) before it starts. Under RBI’s scale-based regulation, a new NBFC in the investment and credit category needs a net owned fund of \u20b910 crore, and existing smaller NBFCs must reach \u20b910 crore by March 2027. A company is treated as an NBFC if financial assets are more than half of its total assets and financial income more than half of its gross income.<\/strong> Kolkata has a long history of family investment companies and lenders; many of them need to check whether they are unregistered NBFCs. In March 2026 RBI released a draft to exempt “Type I” NBFCs with no public funds and no customer interface from registration.<\/p>\n

Do you need NBFC registration?<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Test<\/th>\nRule<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Principal business<\/td>\nFinancial assets more than 50% of total assets, and income from financial assets more than 50% of gross income<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Activity<\/td>\nLending, investing in shares and securities, leasing, hire purchase and similar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Not NBFC<\/td>\nCompanies whose principal business is agriculture, industry, trading, or real estate<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Registration<\/td>\nMandatory before commencing NBFC business<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

Holding companies and family investment companies that meet the 50-50 test are NBFCs, unless they qualify for exemptions such as core investment companies below the size thresholds.<\/p>\n

Net owned fund requirement<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
NBFC<\/th>\nRequired NOF<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
New NBFC in the investment and credit category<\/td>\n\u20b910 crore<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Existing NBFC-ICC (glide path)<\/td>\n\u20b95 crore by March 2025; \u20b910 crore by March 2027<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other categories (P2P, account aggregators, NBFC-MFI, factors, etc.)<\/td>\nAs prescribed for each<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

NOF means owned funds (paid-up equity, free reserves) minus intangible assets, accumulated losses and investments in group companies above the specified limit.<\/p>\n

How to apply<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Incorporate a company (or use an existing one) with the minimum capital in place.<\/li>\n
  2. Prepare the business plan, sources of funds, organisational structure, credit policy and KYC policy.<\/li>\n
  3. Collect directors’ and shareholders’ details, fit and proper declarations, CIBIL reports, and bank confirmations of capital.<\/li>\n
  4. File the online application on RBI’s regulatory application portal with all documents.<\/li>\n
  5. RBI examines, may seek clarifications or meet the promoters, and grants the certificate of registration.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Applications from West Bengal are processed by RBI’s regional office in Kolkata. Expect several months.<\/p>\n

    After registration: compliance<\/h2>\n