Mumbai, July 19 -- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cancelled licences of 1,701 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in the year ended 31 March for failing to meet minimum capital requirements, according to data compiled by Mint. As many as 779 licences were cancelled in October and November, just after the crisis in the shadow banking sector unfolded with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS) defaulting on debt repayments. The defaults led to drying up of liquidity for other non-banks, triggering a crisis in the sector. In comparison, RBI had cancelled the licences of 26 NBFCs in FY18. While NBFCs historically were loosely regulated, the situation is now changing, with the central bank proposing new rules to monitor t...