Mumbai, July 1 -- A week after raising hopes that Tata Sons could avoid a mandatory listing, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday inserted a key definition that was absent in its updated guidelines, leaving the Tata Group holding company's listing fate dependent on the central bank's decision on its application to surrender its core investment company (CIC) licence.

RBI had earlier defined indirect receipt of public funds as "funds received not directly but through associates and group entities which have access to public funds" in a 29 April circular. This definition was not there in the central bank's 24 June circular-which is still on its website-but restored in a footnote on Wednesday's updated version, with effect from 1 Jul...