JOIN USThe Department of Posts, LIC Housing Finance, Tata Sons, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Reliance Capital and Bajaj Finserv are among the 26 private and pubic sector entities which have applied for new bank licences with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
"In all, the RBI received 26 applications," said the central bank after the deadline for applying for a bank licence expired on Monday.
However, it is not clear as to how many new bank licences will be issued by the apex bank, even as speculation is rife in Mint Street circle that it may not exceed more than five or six. Banking Secretary Rajiv Takru on Monday morning in Delhi made it clear that those applicants who fail to get bank licences is "not a reflection of the company, it is just some criterion which may not have fitted to get the licence."
Among the private sectors, Tata Sons, the holding company for India's largest conglomerate, figures among those seeking the right to set up the first new Indian banks since 2004.
Among others, a Bangalore-based Janalakshmi Financial Services has also submitted the application. Bandhan Financial Services, Edelweiss Financial Services. IDFC, IFCI, Indiabulls Housing Finance, India Infoline, INMACS Management Services, J M Financial, and L & T Finance Holdings have also applied.
Magma Fincorp, Muthoot Finance, Religare Enterprises, Shriram Capital, Smart Global Ventures, SREI Infrastructure Finance, Suryamani Financing Company, Tourism Finance Corporation of India, UAE Exchange & Financial Services and Videocon's subsidiary Value Industries are the other applicants.
In February, the RBI issued guidelines to allow corporate houses to set up banks, part of an effort to expand access to financial services in a country where only about half the population has a bank account. The RBI will announce the names by the first quarter of 2014.
In its clarification, the RBI had stated that the entities getting licences to open new banks will be given 18 months to open branches, and promoters would have to transfer their holdings to the non-operative financial holding company in a stipulated period.
RBI Governor D Subbarao had earlier said: “Our effort will be to make that judgment as transparent as objective as contestable as possible. I want to say that not everybody who is fit and proper will be given a (bank) licence because we expect the number of eligible applicants will be much larger than what is meaningful number of licences we can give.”