India: Finance and Banking

When a fixed deposit (FD) holder dies without naming a nominee, families often assume the money is stuck or lost in legal complexity. Indian banking rules allow legal heirs to claim such deposits, provided they submit the right documents and follow the due process. Understanding this distinction is crucial, especially as a large number of deposits remain unclaimed each year due to a lack of awareness.

For more than a decade, power exchanges in India operated within a self-contained regulatory regime under the Electricity Act, 2003 and the CERC (Power Market) Regulations, 2010, with clearing and settlement treated as integral components of an electricity-market framework designed around price discovery, delivery assurance and grid stability.

In August 2026, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the draft Reserve Bank of India (Interest Rates on Loans and Advances) Directions, 2026, proposing a comprehensive framework for the way regulated entities determine and apply interest rates on loans. While the Indian banking sector has long operated under a patchwork of institution specific instructions, the draft Directions seek to bring much-needed consistency to interest rate regulation across banks, cooperative banks, regional rural banks (RRBs), all-India financial institutions and NBFCs. If finalised in their present form, the Directions will come into effect from 1 April 2027.