This page is informational and is not legal advice. It describes rules, orders and rulings as published or reported on the dates shown; read the primary text before relying on any of it.
An unregulated deposit scheme is a deposit-taking arrangement run for business purposes without registration by a recognised regulator.
The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019, which PRS Legislative Research records as passed by the Lok Sabha on 24 July 2019 and by the Rajya Sabha on 29 July 2019, is aimed at such schemes. On PRS's summary it describes a deposit as money received "with a promise to be returned with or without interest", and lists nine regulators, including the Reserve Bank, SEBI, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and state governments.
Why the term sits next to pigmy collection
A co-operative bank taking daily deposits holds a banking licence. A co-operative society taking them is registered with a Registrar. The situation the Bill is aimed at is the arrangement that has neither: a collector taking daily cash for an entity with no licence and no registration, issuing a passbook that looks exactly like a bank's.
Registration is not insurance. A registered society does not appear on the DICGC insured-bank register, which lists banks only. The two questions are separate, and both are worth asking.
We have not read the enacted Act. This entry relies on PRS's summary of the Bill, and does not verify assent, commencement, section numbers or later amendments. It is informational and not legal advice. Our guide to unregulated deposit schemes sets out what that limitation does and does not allow you to conclude.