Chennai/New Delhi, Aug 20 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday granted ‘in principle’ approval to 11 applicants, including Reliance Industries Ltd., Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd., Department of Posts and Cholamandalam Distribution Services Ltd., to set up payment banks.
The others who got the approval are Airtel M Commerce Services Limited, Fino PayTech Limited, National Securities Depository Limited, Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Tech Mahindra Limited and Vodafone m-pesa Limited.
Indian corporate giant Reliance Industries has roped in banking giant State Bank of India (SBI) as an active equity partner with 30 percent stake in the payment bank venture.
According to RBI, the in-principle approval will be valid for 18 months, during which the applicants have to comply with guidelines and fulfil other conditions as may be stipulated by it.
The RBI, on being satisfied that the conditions laid down have been met by the applicants, would then consider granting them a licence for commencement of banking business.
Until regular licences are issued, the applicants cannot undertake any banking business.
Those applicants who have not got the approval this time around need not lose heart.
Earlier, the RBI said it had received applications for payment bank from 41 applicants.
The central bank said it would use the learning from this licensing round to appropriately revise the guidelines and move to giving licences more regularly, that is, virtually “on tap”.
The RBI believes that some of the entities w
