The Secretary of the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, M. Nagaraju, chaired a meeting of the Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) today. The session was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Department of Commerce (DoC) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The IDC met to review proposals submitted by the RBI regarding the establishment of branches, representative offices and subsidiaries of foreign banks in India. In parallel, it examined proposals from Indian banks seeking approval to expand their operations overseas through similar structures.

The Committee also considered requests from foreign banks to relocate their existing branches within India. After detailed deliberation, the IDC recommended the proposals placed before it.

Functioning under the DFS, the IDC serves as the nodal body responsible for evaluating applications from both foreign and domestic banks. Its recommendations are based on consultations with member ministries — including MHA, MEA and DoC — to ensure that decisions reflect a comprehensive and consensus-driven approach.