The Reserve Bank on Sunday said it will come up with a discussion paper on granting new banking licences by the end of this month.
“The RBI would come out with a policy discussion paper by the end of July,” RBI deputy governor, Mr K. C. Chakrabarty, told reporters on the sidelines of an Assocham function here.
The finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, had announced in the Budget that RBI may issue fresh banking licences to private sector players and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs).
Under the current guidelines, a new private sector bank should have a minimum networth of Rs 300 crore and no single entity or group of related entities can hold more than 10 per cent in a bank.
Business houses including Religare, AV Birla group, Anil Ambani group and Bajaj Auto have evinced interest in acquiring a banking licence. NBFCs like Shriram Group and Srei are keen on getting a banking licence.
Earlier in the year, the RBI governor, Dr D. Subbarao, had that the central bank would finalise guidelines based on the feedback to the discussion paper. The applications received, the governor had said, would be referred to an external expert group for examination and recommendations to the Reserve Bank for granting licenses.