Three windows opened while two shut

Three consultations opened this week and two closed, per the consultation ledger.

The biggest by reach is RBI's consolidation of Priority Sector Lending instructions (5 November, comments due 26 November): five entity-wise draft Directions covering commercial banks, small finance banks, local area banks, regional rural banks and urban co-operative banks, with instructions left out of the drafts slated for repeal on issuance. PSL is the rulebook that pushes bank credit towards small borrowers — anyone who cares where the priority-sector quota actually lands should read the commercial-banks draft before the window closes. Publication of comments or a response statement is not specified.

IRDAI went back to the rulebook for the rulebook. An exposure draft dated 3 November — a split from its June regulation-making framework already in the ledger as irdai-regmaking-2026 — proposes the IRDAI (Subsidiary Instructions and Consultative Committees) Regulations, 2026, operationalising sections 114B/114C of the Insurance Act as amended by the SBSR Act. Consultative committees (advisory, not binding) would be constituted for subjects including policyholder protection, market conduct and insurance distribution, with comments due 23 November by email. The transparency catch: as of 9 November the draft does not appear on IRDAI's own exposure-drafts listing, whose latest entry remains 31 July — flagged in the ledger for recheck.

SEBI's week ran both ways. The issue-proceeds monitoring paper closed on 3 November and the SME IPO review on 4 November, both rows now closed with comment publication still unverified. In came an AML/CFT paper (6 November, due 27 November) proposing mandatory NISM certification for principal officers of every s.12 intermediary, with a six-month compliance window — a real cost item for small intermediaries that investors may ultimately pay for. The MII related-activities paper closes 12 November.

The doors ledger recorded no appointment dated this week. The RTI log remains two template-ready entries and zero filings — IRDAI's silent 650+ comments on distribution reforms are still the standing candidate for the first one.