New Delhi: Big corporates like RIL, Aditya Birla, Airtel and Future groups are among at least a dozen entities that have sought licence from RBI to set up payment or small finance banks, two niche banking models introduced to push financial inclusion and saving habits.
The deadline for submitting the applications with RBI for such licences ended on Monday and a final call on these would be taken by the central bank in due course. To foray into banking business through payments banks route, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has managed a sort of coup by partnering banking behemoth SBI, the only state-run entity in the fray. Bharti Airtel has signed on private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank as a partner for its own payments bank, while Kishore Biyani-led Future Group has teamed up with IDFC, which was given full-fledged banking licence in April last year but is yet to make that venture operational.
Those having applied for setting up small finance banks include micro-lender SKS Microfinance, brokerage firm India Infoline, remittance provider UAE Exchange, home loan provider Dewan Housing Finance and SE Investments. The applicants for payments bank category also include Fino Paytech and Vakrangee, while sources said that there are some more entities in the fray including Vodafone.
