The Reserve Bank of India’s Regulations Review Authority (RRA) has recently recommended the withdrawal of 714 regulatory instructions that are either obsolete or redundant. This proposal is a part of RRA 2.0’s recommendations that focus on ease of compliance, reduction of regulatory burden, rationalization of the reporting mechanism, and streamlining instructions and communication.
Recommendations of the Regulations Review Authority
The RRA has put forward several significant recommendations to streamline and simplify regulatory procedures. Primarily, the authority suggests eradicating paper-based returns by identifying 65 regulatory returns for discontinuation, merging with other returns, or conversion into online returns.
The RRA has proposed a periodic review of regulatory or supervisory returns at least once every three years to ensure their relevancy and effectiveness. It also added the need for the review and revocation of old, time-barred regulations for better alignment with recent circulars. The authority maintains that only updated and current instructions should be made available in the public domain.
One of the key recommendations of the RRA is the creation of a separate ‘Regulatory Reporting’ webpage on the RBI website. Here, all information relating to regulatory, supervisory, and statutory returns will be consolidated at a single source.
The Regulations Review Authority: An Overview
The RBI established the first RRA on April 1, 1999, for a duration of one year. The purpose was to review regulations, circulars, and reporting systems based on feedback from the public, banks, and financial institutions.
RRA 2.0 was subsequently set up in 2021 with the intention to further simplify regulatory instructions and reduce the compliance burden on regulated entities. This would be achieved by simplifying procedures and reducing reporting requirements wherever feasible.
RRA 2.0: Terms of Reference
The terms of reference for RRA 2.0 include making regulatory and supervisory instructions more effective by eliminating redundancies and duplications. The authority seeks feedback from regulated entities on the simplification of procedures and enhancement of ease of compliance.
In addition, RRA 2.0 aims to reduce the compliance burden on regulated entities by streamlining the reporting mechanism and revoking obsolete instructions if necessary. It is also tasked with examining and suggesting changes in the process of disseminating RBI circulars and instructions.
The RRA 2.0’s role involves engaging both internally and externally with all regulated entities and other stakeholders to facilitate this process. The goal is to make regulations more accessible and easier to comply with for all entities while ensuring the regulatory framework remains robust and effective.
