Under s.45-IA of the RBI Act 1934, a company carrying on the business of a non-banking financial institution must obtain a certificate of registration from the RBI — with a minimum net owned fund of ₹2 crore for most categories. The test is whether financial activity is the principal business, per the RBI's 50-50 test circular (DNBS.PD.CC.No.168/03.02.089/2009-10 dated 12 February 2010).

The RBI treats a company as an NBFC when both its financial assets and its financial income are at least 50% of total assets and total income respectively, and when financial activity is the principal business — per the RBI circular dated 12 February 2010. The checker applies this test to your revenue mix so you know whether your model sits above the line.

Carrying on NBFC business without registration is a contravention of s.45-IA of the RBI Act 1934 — the RBI can direct the company to stop, and unregistered deposit-accepting models can also attract the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act 2019 and the deposit-taker provisions in s.45-S of the RBI Act. The checker flags this risk before you build the product on an unregistered base.

Yes — a P2P lending platform must register as an NBFC-P2P under the RBI's P2P Master Directions (2017), and an account aggregator as an NBFC-AA under the account aggregator framework (RBI circular dated 2 September 2021). Both are distinct NBFC categories with their own net-owned-fund and business-condition requirements — the checker maps your model to the right category.

The general minimum net owned fund (NOF) for an NBFC is ₹2 crore under s.45-IA of the RBI Act 1934 — higher for certain categories (₹10 crore for NBFC-ICC and NBFC-MFI, ₹20 crore for housing finance companies under the NHB framework, and ₹2 crore for P2P and account aggregators). The category selector tool shows these thresholds side by side.