The Amendment functions as a structural foreclosure, rendering the bank-affiliated NBFC model economically obsolete. The regulatory signal is clear: diversification is viewed as arbitrage, and the era of the homogenized universal bank has returned.

The payments revolution in India is not anywhere near finished, but the next stage is likely to play out at a steadier, almost cautious, pace under the regulator’s watchful eye.

The onus of assigning a ‘fit and proper’ status being on the concerned banking company, would act as a hostile takeover defence.