Videocon Group-company Value Industries Ltd has withdrawn from the race for licence to start new banks in the private sector.
K. C. Land & Finance Ltd of Chandigarh has been included in the list of 26 applicants for new bank licences in the private sector.
In a statement, the RBI said: “Value Industries Ltd, Aurangabad has withdrawn its application. Another applicant, K. C. Land & Finance Ltd, Chandigarh, whose application was received at the Reserve Bank, Central Office, Mumbai on July 1, 2013, but was inadvertently not included in the list of applicants for new bank licences in the private sector, is now being included in the list.
According to reports, Venugopal Dhoot, Chairman, Videocon Group, is likely to be nominated on the RBI board. This would have created a conflict of interest as a company owned by him was one of the applicants for bank licence.
In July, to avoid a possible conflict of interest, Aditya Birla Group's Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla had stepped down from the RBI board after his subsidiary company Aditya Birla Nuvo had applied for banking licence.
The RBI had, on July 1, 2013, put on its Web site a list of 26 applicants — including Tata Sons, L&T Finance Holdings, IDFC, Shriram Capital and SREI Infra Finance, Reliance Capital, among others — for new bank licences in the private sector.