Where Each RBI Return Gets Filed: The Portal Map and the CIMS Migration

Why does RBI list nine reporting portals and no map of which return goes where?

RBI's index of reporting platforms sits at https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/ReportingPlaform.aspx. Misspelled on RBI's own site, with one "t" in "Plaform". It carries exactly nine entries: BoP (bop.rbi.org.in), FLAIR (flair.rbi.org.in), SMS (sms.rbi.org.in), FED (fed.rbi.org.in), CISBI (cisbi.rbi.org.in), FIRMS (firms.rbi.org.in/firms), Data Collector (datacollector.rbi.org.in), CIMS DRM (sankalan.rbi.org.in) and CIMS Common Login (cims.rbi.org.in). Names and URLs only. No descriptions, no onboarding steps, no helpdesk addresses, no mapping of returns to platforms.

The gap is mirror-imaged from the other direction. RBI's List of All Returns at https://rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_Listofallreturns.aspx carries 243 returns with columns for name, description, frequency, department, reporting entity, circular reference and format size. And no portal column. Two exhaustive published lists exist, and neither one joins to the other.

The proof is countable. Across all 243 rows, only ten name the system they file into anywhere in their text: FMR-1, FMR. 3, FMR-4, VMR I and MPD06 (all carrying an "in CIMS" tag); Form II, whose description names the e-Kuber system; Currency Chest Transactions, whose format field reads "System (CyM) driven depending in transaction involved"; the allocation of branches to Statutory Branch Auditors, which names the Auditor Allocation System (AAS); and the two Natural Calamity Relief Measures rows, which name the Natural Calamity Relief Measures Portal. The strings FLAIR, CISBI, DBIE, SAARC and XBRL appear zero times in the whole list. FIRMS appears exactly once, in the description of Form ESOP.

So the mapping in this guide is assembled from per-platform circulars, portal registration material and FAQs, because no single RBI page publishes it. Where the evidence stops, this page says NOT STATED rather than guessing. That distinction matters more than a complete-looking table: a filer who acts on an invented route loses the deadline and the audit trail at the same time.

Which portal does each RBI return actually get filed on?

This is the map RBI does not publish. Every binding below is graded, and the returns are named exactly as RBI's list writes them.

FIRMS carries the nine Single Master Form filings: FC-GPR, FC-TRS, LLP-I, LLP-II, CN, DRR, DI, InVI and Form ESOP. FLAIR carries the FLA - Return (Annual, DSIM, reported by "All India resident companies which have outstanding FDI and/ or ODI in their balance sheet as the end of the latest financial year", citing A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 37 dated June 28, 2019). CISBI carries bank, branch, office, NAIO and other fixed customer service point information under a single unified proforma, and allots the BSR code. BoP is the FETERS-facing platform; the two FETERS returns in RBI's list are FETERS (R-return) (Fortnightly, DSIM, AD Category - I Banks and IFSC Banking Units (IBUs)) and FETERS. Cards Return (Monthly, DSIM, AD Category - I Banks, A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No.13, dated March 25, 2021). CIMS already carries five named returns, set out in section 6.

Search the return's row at rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_Listofallreturns.aspx for a system name. Only ten of 243 rows carry one. The five tagged "(in CIMS)" (FMR-1, FMR. 3, FMR-4, VMR I, MPD06), Form II (e-Kuber), Currency Chest Transactions (CyM), the SBA allocation return (Auditor Allocation System), and the two Natural Calamity Relief Measures rows. </>), soThat: (<> If the row names a system, the routing question is closed on RBI's own authority and no further inference is needed. </>), }, , , , , , ]} conclusion= />

Why can’t FIRMS Entity Master credentials file a Single Master Form?

Because they were never meant to. RBI states it in one line: "The Login credentials for Entity Master cannot be used to make filing in Single Master Form" . This is the single most expensive FIRMS misunderstanding, because it is usually discovered on the day a 30-day clock is about to expire.

FIRMS uses a two-registration model. Entity Master permits one entity user only per entity. Not one per filing team, and not one shared across group companies handled by the same secretarial staff. The registration form captures username, email and PAN; the Authority Letter is verified by RBI and the password is emailed by RBI. Entity Master holds the entity record and does nothing else. Business User is a separate registration, again made per entity, and is the credential that can actually file.

Once the registration exists, the AD bank owns two clocks: eKYC and Business User approval within 3 working days , and approve, reject or escalate to RBI on a submitted form within 5 working days . Escalation routes are helpfirms@rbi.org.in for functional issues, fedsupport@rbi.org.in for technical issues, and 022-22601000 Extn 2617.

The history still traps late registrants. The Entity Master registration window ran from 28 June 2018, 1:00 PM to 12 July 2018, extended to 20 July 2018. FC-GPR, FC-TRS, LLP-I, LLP-II and CN went live in Single Master Form on 1 September 2018, with all new filings SMF-only from that date. ESOP, DI and DRR were added on 23 October 2018, and InVi came later. An entity that never completed Entity Master registration in 2018 is not carrying a stale to-do. It is carrying a blocked filing route.

An Indian company allots equity instruments to a non-resident investor on 1 September. The company has never filed on FIRMS. Its AD Category-I bank's FEMA reporting desk must get the FC-GPR through Single Master Form inside the deadline RBI's returns list states for this form: "Within 30 days from the date of issue", under the Foreign Exchange Management (Mode of Payment and Reporting of Non-Debt Instruments) Regulations, 2019. The 30-day clock expires on 1 October. </> } result= >

What does FLAIR registration need, and who is actually in scope for the FLA return?

FLAIR is the one portal on RBI's index whose mechanics are documented end to end, so it is worth treating as the benchmark for what the other eight should have published. And it also exposes a scope conflict worth a compliance officer's attention.

FLAIR registration mechanics

• Entity details captured. Entity type, CIN or LLPIN, name, PAN, address, contact, state, district and pin.
• Authorised person details. Name, PAN, contact and email of the person who will file.
• Two separate PDF uploads, both mandatory. The Authority Letter , naming the person authorised to fill and manage FLA returns, and the Verification Letter , verifying the details on the registration form. Neither substitutes for the other, and they are routinely confused.
• Default password valid for 24 hours only. Letting it lapse forces re-registration.
• Submission and proof. Filing is online, and the system generates an acknowledgement form with a download link. Retain it: it is the only filing proof RBI describes.
• Support. Flareturn@rbi.org.in.

The return itself is FLA - Return , Annual, owned by DSIM, due 15 July every year. The email-based FLA route (soft form filled, validated and emailed by 15 July) was replaced by FLAIR effective 29 June 2019, under A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 37 dated June 28, 2019.

Two things RBI does not state about FLAIR: whether a filed FLA return can be revised or resubmitted, and whether a digital signature certificate is required. Both are NOT STATED, so plan the filing on the assumption that the first submission is the one that counts, and keep the acknowledgement.

Why does CISBI want a Nil Report in a month when no branch changed?

CISBI is where a bank's own identity data lives, and it behaves unlike every other portal on the index. The nodal owner is the Bank Branch Statistics Division (BBSD), DSIM, RBI. The scope, in RBI's words, is "Information related to Bank, Branches, Office, NAIOs, other fixed customer service points (CSPs) (e.g., ATMs,etc.)". A single unified proforma that also allots the BSR code , the identifier that then propagates into BSR-1 and BSR-2 reporting.

Access is requested by email to mofbsd@rbi.org.in (note the legacy "mof" prefix, a survivor of the Master Office File era) and produces two distinct credentials: a Bank Admin ID and a Bank User ID .

Two operating rules cause most of the pain.

The two CISBI rules that trip banks up

• Monthly Nil Reports are mandatory even when nothing changed. The Nil Report is not a courtesy; it is the affirmative authentication that the branch network on RBI's books is still correct. Silence is not compliance.
• RBI approval is a gate, not a formality. RBI states it verbatim: "All the changes will be reflected in the system and accordingly will go in the database only after the approval of RBI." Submitting is not the same as recording.

The co-operative sector was brought in by circular RBI/2019-20/81, DCBR.BPD.(PCB/RCB).Cir.No.04 dated 11 October 2019, covering all Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks, State Co-operative Banks and District Central Co-operative Banks, with the instruction to submit "immediately and in any case not later than one week". That one-week rule is a separate clock from the monthly Nil Report, and both run at once.

CISBI replaced the Master Office File (MOF), and all past data was migrated. The legacy MOF query still sits on DBIE at https://dbie.rbi.org.in/DBIE/MOFSelectParam.jsp. Which matters, because DBIE is itself scheduled for discontinuation. Any internal process that still reaches branch history through that path needs a replacement source before the switch-off.

What happens to your filings when XBRL, DBIE and SAARC are switched off?

The portal index raises the question and refuses to answer it. The only migration statement RBI publishes there, verbatim: "Existing XBRL, DBIE and SAARC portal will be discontinued once complete CIMS project goes LIVE." No date is published.

The three retirements have to be separated, because they land on three different teams. XBRL/ORFS (xbrl.rbi.org.in/orfsxbrl/, orfs.rbi.org.in) is a filing platform: its retirement moves live return submission into CIMS, and it is the returns team's problem. DBIE (dbie.rbi.org.in, data.rbi.org.in/DBIE/) is a dissemination platform, not a filing one: its retirement hits data consumers, MIS, and anyone whose scripts pull series from DBIE, and it also strands the legacy MOF query path. The successor instances already visible are cimsdbie.rbi.org.in and statistics.rbi.org.in. SAARC/SAARCFINANCE (sfdb.rbi.org.in) is the third, a regional exchange rather than either of the other two.

Part of the migration has already happened, and RBI named it in the returns list rather than in an announcement. Five returns already sit in CIMS:

The five returns already tagged "in CIMS"

• FMR-1 (Fraud Monitoring Return (FMR) - SCBs in CIMS). Filed "within three weeks from the date of detection of fraud" by All CBs and AIFIs.
• FMR. 3 (Fraud Update Application (FUA) - SCBs in CIMS). Quarterly, All CBs and select AIFIs.
• FMR-4 (Return on Bank Robbery, Theft, etc. (RBR) in CIMS). Quarterly, All CBs and select AIFIs. All three sit under RBI/DBS/2016-17/28, DBS.CO.CFMC.BC.No.1/23.04.001/2016-17, Master Directions on Frauds. Classification and Reporting by commercial banks and select FIs.
• Vigilance Monitoring Return -VMR I & III (VMR I in CIMS). Quarterly, All PSBs and AIFIs, under Circular DOS. 11287 / 17.05.001 / 95 dated May 20, 1995.
• Interest Rate Return (erstwhile SMR VIAB) (MPD06) (Monthly, SCBs (excluding RRBs, SFBs and PBs), under the Master Direction) Reserve Bank of India (Interest Rate on Deposits) Directions, 2016 and the Master Direction. Reserve Bank of India (Interest Rate on Advances) Directions, 2016.

Which portals has RBI documented so thinly that the helpdesk is the only route?

For four of the nine portals, the URL is the entire published record. Saying so plainly saves a compliance officer a day of searching for documentation that was never written.

Four portals, one URL each, nothing else

• SMS (sms.rbi.org.in). The acronym is never expanded anywhere on the portal index. Returns, onboarding and submission mechanics are all NOT STATED.
• FED portal (fed.rbi.org.in). The login page reads "Login to FED-InterLinking Application". The returns it serves are NOT STATED. The only adjacent published instruction is that authorised persons. AD Category-I banks and Indian agents. Correspond with, and submit prescribed statements to, the FED Regional Office with jurisdiction over their registered office. That is the practical fallback.
• Data Collector (datacollector.rbi.org.in). Everything NOT STATED.
• CIMS DRM (sankalan.rbi.org.in). A login wall; everything NOT STATED, other than that RBI's validation rules page now points to it.

Filers also use routes that are not on the index at all. The APConnect Entity portal sits at apconnect.rbi.org.in/entity/. The legacy desktop packages remain archived at https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/ElectronicReportingSystem.aspx. The FET-ERS package, the XOS package for ADs, the Overseas Investment Application and NRD-CSR software. Those are downloads, not portals, and should not be mistaken for current filing routes.

And four filing systems appear inside RBI's returns list while appearing on no RBI portal index at all. Form II claims refund from the DEA Fund "within 3 working days of its submission on e-Kuber system". Currency Chest Transactions is "System (CyM) driven depending in transaction involved". The Allocation of branches to Statutory Branch Auditors (SBAs) by Public Sector Banks (PSBs) is uploaded to the Auditor Allocation System (AAS). The two Natural Calamity Relief Measures rows file on the Natural Calamity Relief Measures Portal, under MD.FIDD.CO.FSD.BC No.9/05.10.001/2018-19 dated October 17, 2018. Four systems that exist, carry returns, and are on no portal page.

Portal onboarding and CIMS migration readiness checklist

Run this as a quarterly control. Every item traces back to a fact established earlier on this page.

Registration integrity

• Confirm exactly one Entity Master user exists per entity in FIRMS
• Confirm a separate Business User registration exists per entity, and that no one is attempting to file SMF on Entity Master credentials
• Confirm FLAIR holds both the Authority Letter and the Verification Letter. Not one of the two
• Confirm the FLAIR default password was used inside its 24-hour validity
• Confirm the CISBI Bank Admin ID and Bank User ID are both live and mapped to named staff

Calendar controls

• FLA - Return filed by 15 July
• CISBI monthly Nil Report raised even in a no-change month
• CISBI network changes submitted under the one-week rule from RBI/2019-20/81
• Single Master Form clocks tracked per form. 30 days for FC-GPR, LLP-I, CN, DRR, DI, InVI and Form ESOP; 60 days for FC-TRS and LLP-II

AD bank SLA controls

• Track FIRMS eKYC / Business User approval against the 3 working day SLA as an ageing queue
• Track form approve / reject / escalate against the 5 working day SLA as an ageing queue. A form sitting unactioned past day 5 is the bank's lapse, not the filer's
• Hold the escalation addresses with the queue, not in someone's inbox: helpfirms@rbi.org.in, fedsupport@rbi.org.in, 022-22601000 Extn 2617

Evidence controls

• Retain the FLAIR system-generated acknowledgement form. It is the only filing proof RBI describes
• Record explicitly that a CISBI submission is not a CISBI record until RBI approves it, and carry the approval date in the register
• For SMF filings, keep self-generated submission evidence (timestamp, user, screen capture) since RBI publishes no acknowledgement artefact

Migration readiness

• List every internal process that reads from DBIE and name a replacement source. Cimsdbie.rbi.org.in or statistics.rbi.org.in
• List every return still filed through XBRL/ORFS and assign a named owner for cutover
• Re-read RBI's List of All Returns each quarter for new "(in CIMS)" tags. That is the only migration signal RBI publishes
• Confirm someone in the team holds CIMS Common Login and sankalan credentials before, not after, cutover. Validation rules already sit behind that login
• Keep the ReportingPlaform.aspx misspelling intact in every internal bookmark and runbook

Update history

• 2026-08-14 First published.