The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday issued guidelines on the filing of supervisory data by entities such as banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).

Commercial banks will have to file audited returns within five days from the date of completion of the statutory audit of their books of accounts.

At present, they have to do so within seven working days from the date of signing of the auditor’s report.

The banks will have to file their balance sheet analysis (BSA) within five working days from the date of signing of the auditor’s report.

They now have to submit it immediately after the completion of the statutory audit of their books.

An RBI statement said “Master Direction – Reserve Bank of India (Filing of Supervisory Returns) Directions — 2024” provides a broader framework to understand the purpose of the returns and harmonises the timelines for their submission.

The Master Direction also contained the list of notifications and circulars which have been repealed. “This Direction removes certain instructions that have become obsolete and consolidates twenty existing instructions, including one Master Direction for Non-Banking Financial Companies,” the central bank said.

It also created a single document for ensuring compliance related to the submission of all supervisory data. Supervised entities (SEs) were facing certain issues while complying with these instructions due to changes in technology platforms, modes of submission and variations in the return submission timeframes.

On responsibilities of the board and senior management of SEs, the Master Direction said the risk data aggregation capabilities and risk reporting practices should be fully documented and subject to high standards of validation that are aligned with the bank’s other independent risk management reviews.