The Reserve Bank had issued Guidelines on Sale of Loan Exposures (which included direct assignment transactions) vide circular dated February 1, 2006. They were updated on May 7, 2012 and July 1, 2013. Subsequently, BCBS issued guidelines on securitisation which were effective from January 1, 2018. Also, the Reserve Bank constituted a Task Force in 2019 on the Development of Secondary Market for Corporate Loans (“Task Force”) and a Committee on Development of Housing Finance Securitisation Market in India (“Committee”). The Task Force and the Committee made various recommendations relating to the securitisation market in India, including changes to the regulatory framework.

A key recommendation of both the Committee as well as the Task Force was to separate the regulatory guidelines for direct assignment transactions from the securitisation guidelines and treat it as a sale of loan exposure. The above recommendations were duly examined by the Reserve Bank, taking into account the public response received. Now RBI has placed in the public domain different sets of draft guidelines on securitisation of loans and sale of loan exposures.