The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced a major expansion of how customers can view their financial information, enabling Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-regulated depositories to include bank deposit information in Consolidated Account Statements (CAS) through the Account Aggregator framework. The change is expected to be implemented by December 31, 2026.
For investors, the practical impact is simple: a person with a demat account could eventually see their securities holdings and bank deposit information together in one consolidated statement instead of maintaining separate records for investments and deposits. The RBI has also decided to make non-bank Account Aggregators interoperable, allowing customers to access and share financial information through an Account Aggregator of their choice.
Key takeaways
- RBI will facilitate the inclusion of bank deposit information in Consolidated Account Statements.
- The facility will operate through NBFC Account Aggregators (NBFC-AAs).
- Demat investors will be able to view securities holdings and bank deposits in one place.
- Customers without demat accounts can continue to obtain a consolidated financial view through Account Aggregators.
- The measures are expected to be implemented by December 31, 2026.
- RBI will also introduce interoperability among NBFC Account Aggregators, reducing dependence on a single aggregator.
- India had 338.04 million accounts linked to the Account Aggregator framework as of August 2026.
- The move could make financial planning, loan applications and wealth management more convenient, although customers will still control data sharing through the consent-based Account Aggregator system.
What exactly is changing?
A Consolidated Account Statement is designed to provide investors with a combined view of their securities holdings.
The new RBI measure will expand that view.
Under the proposed arrangement, SEBI-regulated depositories will be facilitated to obtain bank deposit information through NBFC Account Aggregators and include it in the CAS. This means an investor could eventually see information relating to both their demat holdings and eligible bank deposit accounts in one place.
The change is not the RBI directly collecting everyone’s bank balances and putting them into a central statement.
Instead, the Account Aggregator infrastructure will act as the data-sharing layer between financial institutions and the entities providing the consolidated view.
This distinction matters because the Account Aggregator system is based on customer consent.
What is a Consolidated Account Statement?
A Consolidated Account Statement, or CAS, is a statement that provides investors with a combined view of securities held in their demat accounts.
The securities ecosystem in India has two SEBI-regulated depositories: the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL).
Depositories electronically hold securities such as shares, bonds and other eligible financial instruments in dematerialised form.
The CAS concept reduces the need for investors to track securities information across multiple accounts and statements.
The RBI’s latest move extends this concept toward a broader financial snapshot by allowing bank deposit information to be incorporated through the Account Aggregator framework.
How will bank deposits appear in the CAS?
The process involves several participants.
Bank / Financial Institution
│
│ Customer consent
▼
Account Aggregator
│
│ Secure financial-data transfer
▼
SEBI-regulated Depository
│
▼
Consolidated Account Statement
│
▼
Demat holdings + Bank deposit informationThe Account Aggregator acts as an intermediary rather than an owner of the customer’s financial information.
Banks and other financial institutions that hold customer information are known as Financial Information Providers (FIPs).
Financial institutions or service providers that use that information are known as Financial Information Users (FIUs).
The Account Aggregator facilitates the secure transfer of information between them after obtaining the customer’s consent.
Business Standard reported that Account Aggregators facilitate the transfer of digitally signed financial information and can support services including lending, insurance and wealth management.
Why is RBI making this change?
The broader objective is customer convenience.
Today, a person’s financial information can be scattered across banks, brokerages, mutual fund platforms, insurance companies, pension accounts and other financial institutions.
An investor may therefore need to collect multiple statements when applying for a loan, preparing a financial plan or demonstrating their financial position.
A more integrated system can reduce that administrative burden.
For example, consider an individual who has:
| Financial asset | Existing information source |
|---|---|
| Equity shares | Demat account |
| Mutual funds | Securities/AMC records |
| Savings account | Bank |
| Fixed deposits | Bank |
| Other financial information | Relevant financial institution |
Under the expanded CAS framework, bank deposit information could become available alongside the investor’s securities information through the consolidated statement.
That does not mean every financial product will automatically appear in exactly the same format. The RBI announcement specifically addresses bank deposit information and the Account Aggregator mechanism, so the eventual implementation details will determine the precise scope and presentation.
Account Aggregators are also becoming interoperable
The CAS change is only one part of the RBI’s announcement.
The central bank is also introducing interoperability among NBFC Account Aggregators.
Currently, customers may interact with different Account Aggregator platforms depending on the financial service they are using.
Interoperability is intended to reduce this fragmentation.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the framework would allow customers to aggregate financial information through one Account Aggregator rather than having to use multiple aggregators.
In practical terms, the customer should have greater flexibility over which Account Aggregator they use to access and share information.
This is important because the value of an Account Aggregator increases as more financial institutions and data sources become accessible through the network.
India’s Account Aggregator network is already growing rapidly
The RBI’s latest move comes as the Account Aggregator ecosystem is expanding quickly.
According to data reported by Business Standard, 338.04 million accounts were linked through the framework as of August 2026, compared with 272.46 million in February.
That represents an increase of roughly 24% over the period.
In August alone:
- 11.72 million accounts were linked.
- 27.94 million new consents were fulfilled.
- Cumulative fulfilled consents reached 566.26 million.
- Account Aggregators delivered 352.48 million datasets during the month.
The August dataset figure was the highest monthly level reported between February and August, compared with 265.67 million datasets in February.
Why the growth matters
The numbers indicate that Account Aggregators are moving beyond being a niche financial-data infrastructure layer.
As more customers connect accounts and approve data-sharing requests, interoperability becomes more valuable.
A fragmented ecosystem can force customers and businesses to work across different platforms. A common interoperable layer could make financial-data access more seamless.
What does this mean for an ordinary investor?
The biggest benefit is convenience.
Suppose an investor has a demat account with securities worth ₹15 lakh and bank deposits of ₹8 lakh.
At present, these financial assets may be represented through different records.
With the new framework, the investor could potentially see both categories through a consolidated statement:
CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL VIEW
Securities holdings
├── Equity
├── Bonds
└── Other eligible securities
Bank deposits
├── Savings accounts
└── Term / fixed deposits
↓
One consolidated viewThe benefit is not necessarily that the customer’s total wealth changes.
Instead, the visibility of existing financial assets improves.
That can be particularly useful when a customer needs to demonstrate financial information to a lender, financial adviser or another authorised service provider.
Loan applications could become easier
One of the potentially important applications is digital lending.
When applying for a loan, customers may have to provide information about income, bank accounts, investments and other financial assets.
An Account Aggregator can allow financial information to be shared digitally, with customer consent.
Interoperability could make that process smoother because customers would not necessarily need to establish separate relationships with multiple aggregators to access different financial-information providers.
Mint reported that the interoperable framework could reduce friction in financial-data collection and verification, potentially helping lenders assess customers more efficiently.
The benefit could be particularly relevant for small businesses and self-employed individuals whose financial position may not be adequately represented by traditional credit scores alone.
However, this is a potential downstream benefit, not a guarantee that every loan application will automatically become faster or cheaper.
Financial planning could also become more integrated
The other major use case is wealth management.
Financial planning requires an understanding of a person’s complete financial position rather than looking at one investment account in isolation.
For example, an adviser assessing an individual’s portfolio may want to know:
- How much is invested in equities?
- How much is held in fixed deposits?
- How much cash is available?
- What portion of the person’s wealth is exposed to market movements?
- How much liquidity is available for emergencies?
A consolidated view can make this information easier to organise.
It could also help customers identify an overly concentrated financial position.
For example, an individual may believe they have a diversified portfolio because they hold several stocks, while a large portion of their overall wealth is actually sitting in bank deposits or another asset class.
The CAS expansion does not itself provide financial advice, but better information can make financial decision-making easier.
Customers without demat accounts are not excluded
An important detail in the RBI announcement is that the broader Account Aggregator system is not restricted to demat investors.
Customers who do not have a demat account can continue to obtain a consolidated view of their financial information through NBFC Account Aggregators and share it when required.
This means the initiative is broader than simply adding fixed deposits to an investor statement.
The longer-term objective is a more interoperable financial-data ecosystem in which customers can securely access and share information from multiple financial institutions.
What happens to customer privacy?
The expansion of financial-data sharing naturally raises privacy questions.
The Account Aggregator framework is designed around customer consent.
An Account Aggregator does not function like a traditional financial institution holding the customer’s money. Its role is to facilitate the secure transfer of financial information between the relevant parties.
That means customers remain central to the data-sharing process.
However, greater connectivity also increases the importance of cybersecurity, authentication, consent management and accurate implementation.
The fact that more than 338 million accounts were already linked by August shows the scale at which the infrastructure is operating.
As the system expands to support more use cases, maintaining strong controls around consent and data security will become increasingly important.
When will the new system be available?
The RBI expects both measures to be implemented by December 31, 2026.
That includes:
- Interoperability among NBFC Account Aggregators.
- Facilitation for SEBI-regulated depositories to include bank deposit information in CAS through NBFC-AAs.
The December date is therefore an implementation target, rather than meaning every customer will necessarily see the new information immediately on that date.
Banks, depositories, Account Aggregators and other participants will need to complete the necessary technical and operational integration.
What changes for CDSL and NSDL?
The RBI’s announcement has particular relevance for India’s two securities depositories, CDSL and NSDL.
Both already play a central role in maintaining electronic securities records and generating consolidated information for investors.
The bank-deposit integration potentially expands the usefulness of their consolidated statements.
However, it would be premature to treat the RBI announcement as a direct financial benefit or guaranteed revenue opportunity for either depository.
The immediate change is primarily about the information architecture and customer experience.
The eventual commercial implications, if any, will depend on how the service is implemented and how customers, brokers, Account Aggregators and financial institutions use it.
The Bigger Picture
The RBI’s latest measures are part of a broader shift in Indian finance from institution-by-institution information silos toward consent-based, interoperable financial-data infrastructure.
The Account Aggregator framework provides the underlying architecture for this transition. Bringing bank deposits into the CAS could make the consolidated statement more useful because it moves closer to representing a customer’s broader financial position rather than primarily their securities holdings.
The significance may be even greater as digital lending, automated wealth management and financial planning become increasingly data-driven. Instead of repeatedly uploading bank statements and investment documents, customers could increasingly authorise regulated financial institutions to access verified information through standardised digital rails.
But the quality of the outcome will depend on implementation. Interoperability must work reliably, customers must understand what they are consenting to, and data-sharing systems must remain secure as the amount of financial information moving through the ecosystem increases.
Looking Ahead
The next important step will be the detailed implementation framework from the RBI, SEBI, depositories and Account Aggregator ecosystem. Investors should watch for technical standards, rollout dates and the precise categories of bank-deposit information that will appear in CAS.
If implemented smoothly, the change could make India’s financial-data infrastructure considerably more convenient for consumers. Instead of thinking about bank accounts and investments as separate records held across different institutions, customers will increasingly be able to access a unified, consent-based view of their finances.
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