There is no RBI approval needed for banks to invest in their branches and foreign arms, Governor of Bank India’s reserve Shaktikanta Das said on Friday.

At present, banks who are members of India can invest in branches and subsidiaries abroad, maintain earnings in these centers and recover / transfer profits with previous RBI approval.

“With the intention of providing operational flexibility to the bank, it has been decided that the Bank does not need to seek RBI’s previous approval if they meet the regulatory capital requirements,” said the Governor of RBI Shaktikanta Das while announcing bi-monthly monetary policy. Instructions in this case are issued separately, he added.

Regulatory instructions that are still on the classification and assessment of investment portfolios by commercial banks scheduled are largely based on the framework introduced in October 2000 with increasing global standards and applicable best practices.

Given the subsequent significant developments in global standards on investment classifications, measurements and assessment of investment, linkages with the capital adequacy framework and progress in the domestic financial market, there is a need to review and renew these norms, he said.

As a step in this direction, the paper discussion that includes all relevant aspects will be placed immediately on the RBI website for comments, he said. Given the termination of the libor that will occur soon, the watershate says every level between banks or alternative reference levels that are widely accepted (AR) that apply to the loan currency can be used as benchmarks, postnoding post.

At present, the level of benchmarks for foreign currencies (FCY) external commercial loans (ECB) / trading credit (TC) is determined as a six-month LIBOR level or other interbank interest rates that apply to the loan currency. To calculate the difference in credit risk and the term premia between LIBOR and ARRS, for the ECB and TCS new foreign currency, it is proposed to revise the all-in-cost ceiling of 450 to 500 basis points and from 250 to 300 basis points (BPS), respectively, above the Arr.

To enable the existing ECB and TC transitions related to LIBOR, it is proposed to revise the all-in-bilay ceiling of 450 to 550 bps each and from 250 to 350 bps, above Arrs.

The RBI kept the benchmark loan interest rate unchanged for the ninth consecutive time at 4 percent, the watershed informed that day. The central bank also continues with the accommodating attitude to revive and maintain growth durable, he said.

The RBI monetary policy committee also maintained an inverse repo level of 3.35 percent and the MSF level of 4.25 percent.

The announcement came in the context of a new threat from the Omicron variant of Coronavirus. So far, India has reported two dozen omicron cases. It has forced several countries to force fresh travel restrictions. However, there is a fear that developed, that the surge of Omicron will lead to the third wave of Covid-19 in the country.