New Delhi, Dec. 6 -- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) believes that the stress in microfinance loans is not alarming, deputy governor Swaminathan J said on Friday, even as data showed rising repayment delays by borrowers.

Swaminathan said it was not surprised by the rise in stress in micro loans as such loans had seen "outlier growth a year before". He added that RBI had already requested banks and non-bank financiers to strengthen their underwriting standards and step up collections so that the stress does not translate into bad loans.

Microfinance borrowers have started delaying repayments, as many are juggling between multiple lenders. At the end of June, 2.5 million microfinance borrowers had loans from five or more lenders each , up...