Types of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NFBC)

All NBFCs are either deposit taking or Non-deposit taking. If they are non-deposit taking, ND is suffixed to their name (NBFC-ND). The NBFCs which have asset size of Rs.100 Crore or more are known as Systematically Important NBFC. They have been classified so because they can have bearing on financial stability of the country.  The Non-deposit taking NBFCs are denoted as NBFC-NDSI. Under these two broad categories, the different NBFCs are as follows:

Asset Finance Company(AFC)

The main business of these companies is to finance the assets such as machines, automobiles, generators, material equipments, industrial machines etc.

Investment Company (IC)

The main business of these companies is to deal in securities.

Loan Companies (LC)

The main business of such companies is to make loans and advances (not for assets but for other purposes such as working capital finance etc. )

Infrastructure Finance Company (IFC)

A company which has net owned funds of at least Rs. 300 Crore and has deployed 75% of its total assets in Infrastructure loans is called IFC provided it has credit rating of A or above and has a CRAR of 15%.

Systemically Important Core Investment Company (CIC-ND-SI)

A systematically important NBFC (assets Rs. 100 crore and above)  which has deployed at least 90% of its assets in the form of investment in shares or debt instruments or loans in group companies is called CIC-ND-SI. Out of the 90%, 60% should be invested in equity shares or those instruments which can be compulsorily converted into equity shares. Such companies do accept public funds.

Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF-NBFC)

A debt fund means an investment pool in which core holdings are fixed income investments. The Infrastructure Debt Funds are meant to infuse funds into the infrastructure sector. The importance of these funds lies in the fact that the infrastructure funding is not only different but also difficult in comparison to other types of funding because of its huge requirement, long gestation period and long term requirements.

In India, an IDF can be set up either as a trust or as a company. If the IDF is set up as a trust, it would be a mutual fund, regulated by SEBI. Such funds would be called IDF-MF. The mutual fund would issue rupee-denominated units of five years’ maturity to raise funds for the infrastructure projects.

If the IDF is set up as a company, it would be an NBFC; it will be regulated by the RBI. The IDF guidelines of the RBI came in September 2011. According to these guidelines, such companies would be called IDF-NBFC.

An IDF-NBFC is a non-deposit taking NBFC that has Net Owned Fund of Rs 300 crores or more and which invests only in Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and post commencement operations date (COD) infrastructure projects which have completed at least one year of satisfactory commercial operation and becomes a party to a Tripartite Agreement.

Non-Banking Financial Company – Micro Finance Institution (NBFC-MFI)

NBFC-MFI is a non-deposit taking NBFC which has at least 85% of its assets in the form of microfinance. Such microfinance should be in the form of loan given to those who have annual income of Rs. 60,000 in rural areas and Rs. 120,000 in urban areas. Such loans should not exceed Rs. 50000 and its tenure should not be less than 24 months. Further, the loan has to be given without collateral. Loan repayment is done on weekly, fortnightly or monthly installments at the choice of the borrower.

Non-Banking Financial Company – Factors (NBFC-Factors)

Factoring business refers to the acquisition of receivables by way of assignment of such receivables or financing, there against either by way of loans or advances or by creation of security interest over such receivables but does not include normal lending by a bank against the security of receivables etc.

An NBFC-Factoring company should have a minimum Net Owned Fund (NOF) of Rs. 5 Crore and its financial assets in the factoring business should constitute at least 75 percent of its total assets and its income derived from factoring business should not be less than 75 percent of its gross income.