RBI publishes its supervisory data quality index for commercial banks
Serguey Asael Shinder1 min readThe Reserve Bank of India released the Supervisory Data Quality Index (sDQI) for Scheduled Commercial Banks for June 2026, announced in a press release dated 22 September 2026 (reference 2026-2027/1167, signed by Chief General Manager Brij Raj).
The index measures data quality along four named dimensions — accuracy, timeliness, completeness and consistency — in the submission of returns and microdata used for supervisory assessments. Its stated objective is to assess adherence to the principles set out in the Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Supervisory Returns) Directions, 2026 and the corresponding Directions for Small Finance Banks.
What it means
A supervisor's picture of a banking system is only as good as the returns the banks file, and that constraint is usually invisible until a stress episode reveals that the regulator was working from figures that arrived late or did not reconcile. Scoring the quality of submissions — rather than only their content — turns an internal irritation into something measurable and comparable across institutions.
The four dimensions are worth separating. Accuracy and completeness are what most people assume data quality means. Timeliness and consistency are the supervisory ones: a return that is correct but arrives after the decision window has closed is not usable, and a bank whose figures do not reconcile across returns cannot be aggregated with its peers even when each number is defensible on its own.
Anchoring the index to the 2026 Supervisory Returns Directions is what gives it force. It converts a quality score into adherence to a specific instrument, which is the form in which a regulator can escalate.
We have not seen the scores themselves; this release announces the index for the quarter, and the linked document is where the results sit.