RBI raises banks' minimum daily CRR maintenance from 90% to 99% of the requirement

Under Section 42(1) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, scheduled banks had been permitted to keep their daily Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) balance at not less than 90% of the required amount on any single day of a reporting fortnight, so long as the average CRR maintained across the fortnight did not fall below the prescribed level. By a notification dated 9 October 2026 (RBI/2026-27/290), the Reserve Bank of India, after reviewing current liquidity conditions, raised this minimum daily maintenance requirement from 90% to 99% of the prescribed CRR, applicable to all scheduled banks from the reporting fortnight beginning 16 October 2026.

The change leaves the fortnightly average CRR requirement itself unchanged, but sharply narrows the day-to-day room banks previously had to let their reserve balance dip below the prescribed ratio on any given day, in effect requiring near-full daily compliance rather than only an average over two weeks. The CRR is the share of a bank's net demand and time liabilities that it must keep with the RBI in cash, and is one of the RBI's principal monetary-policy tools for managing liquidity in the banking system and influencing the money supply available to lend.