A cancellation or proposed cancellation of an NBFC’s Certificate of Registration (CoR) is one of the most serious regulatory events an NBFC board can face. It threatens not just the company’s license to lend, but its reputation, existing loan book, lender relationships, and the going-concern assumption itself. Yet, cancellation is not necessarily the end of the road — the law expressly provides a right of appeal, and many NBFCs have successfully reversed or mitigated RBI’s adverse orders through well-argued, evidence-backed appeals.

Under Section 45-IA(7) of the RBI Act, 1934, a company whose CoR has been cancelled may prefer an appeal to the Central Government within 30 days from the date of receipt of the order. The appeal must be carefully drafted, supported by legal and factual grounds, compliance remediation, and robust documentation — failing which the window closes and the cancellation becomes final.

We provide end-to-end advisory for NBFCs facing show-cause notices, in-principle cancellation decisions, or already-issued cancellation orders — covering response strategy, appeal drafting, representation, remediation, and parallel compliance steps needed to protect the NBFC’s interests.