The Non-Banking Financial Company - Micro Finance Institutions (NBFC-MFI) (Reserve Bank) Directions, issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on December 2, 2011, creates a new category of NBFC. It first defines NBFC-MFI as a non-deposit taking NBFC that satisfies four criteria, including owning at least 85% "qualifying assets." The definition of qualifying assets is incorporated from RBI's priority-sector lending policy. The Directions then outline the regulatory framework for NBFC-MFIs.

The Regulatory Framework is organized as follows:

• Entry Point Norm;
• Prudential Norms;
• Capital Requirement; and
• Asset Classification and Provisioning Norms;
• Other Regulations;
• Pricing of Credit;
• Fair Practices in Lending;
• Transparency in Interest Rates;
• Multiple-lending, Over-borrowing and Ghost-borrowers; and
• Non-coercive Methods of Recover;
• Corporate Governance;
• Improvement of Efficiency; and
• Others.