RBI p-bank drive gets huge response

In what signals growing interest of corporates in the banking sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has received a huge response to its call for applications for setting up payment banks and small finance banks.

“A total of 72 applications for small finance banks and 41 applications for payments banks were received up to the deadline for submission on Monday. This number excludes applications that might have been received at other venues,” RBI said in its sixth bi-monthly monetary policy statement, here on Tuesday.

The final guidelines on payments banks and small finance banks as differentiated banks were placed on the Reserve Bank’s website on November 27, 2014 and clarifications on the queries were released on January 1, 2015. The last date of receipt of applications was February 2, 2015.

Airtel M Commerce Services, Idea, Future Group and Reliance Industries (RIL) are some of the companies that have submitted applications to the RBI for payment bank licenses.

UAE Exchange India has applied for a small bank license while the board of SKS Microfinance had approved the company’s proposal to apply for a small finance bank on January 29.

RBI also said that it has finalised the heads of the external advisory committees (EAC) that will evaluate the applications for these banks.