Payout to top NBFC execs on RBI radar

Payouts to key management personnel in nonbanking financial companies (NBFCs) are under the banking regulator's scrutiny.

- RAGHU MOHAN

Top industry officials said this is a follow-through on the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) circular of April 29, 2022, which asked NBFCs in the "middle" and "upper" layer of its four-tiered scale-based regulatory (SBR) framework to put in place a board-approved compensation policy. These include the setting up of a remuneration committee, principles for fixedvariable pay structures, and claw-back provisions effective April 1 last year.

The RBI's annual report for FY24 also makes it explicit that among its key regulatory and supervisory deliverables for the next year will be "delineating the role of various committees" (audit committee of the board, nomination and remuneration committee, and risk management committee) in NBFCs as mentioned in the scale-based regulatory framework issued on October 22, 2021.

A key feature of the exercise will be adherence to norms on the proportion of variable pay in total compensation. The RBI had said that the proportion of variable pay needs to be higher towards the top of the pyramid. And that there is to be a balance between the cash and share-linked instruments in the variable pay in case the latter included share-linked instruments.