The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has deferred adoption of Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS) by commercial banks for year (till April 2019) due to unpreparedness of banks to migrate to the new accounting system.
RBI has requested Government to amend Banking Regulation Act, 1949 as format of financial statements as prescribed under Schedule 3 of Act is not amenable to reporting financial statements under Ind-AS.
Ind-AS is global accounting practice that lender is mandated to adopt. The practice is on par with International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9.
Banks and non-banking financial companies currently follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) standards.
Corporate entities started complying with Ind-AS with effect from 1 April 2016.
In February 2016, RBI had issued circular mandating commercial banks, barring regional rural banks to implement Ind-AS from April 1, 2018.