Corporates and financial sector players want the Reserve Bank of India to award bank licences on tap (ongoing exercise).
As many as 59 per cent of the respondents to a FICCI survey on new bank licences felt that the process of issuing licences should be an ongoing exercise.
A majority of them felt the number of new licences should not be capped at a prescribed number per year. It should also not be capped for a defined period of time.
Simply put, RBI should accept applications from banking aspirants throughout the year, as done in several countries.
As long as the applicants meet a certain prescribed criteria, their application should be considered by the central bank, it is being felt.
The FICCI survey on new bank licences covered about 51 entities including NBFCs and companies.
Financial inclusion
Nearly 88 per cent of the respondents felt that RBI’s condition that at least 25 per cent of the branches should come in unbanked rural centres with a population of less than 9,999 will boost financial inclusion in India.
While 69 per cent of the respondents felt that corporate/industrial houses should be given licences, the remaining 31 per cent felt they should not be allowed to operate as banks.
About 64 per cent of the respondents felt that other regulators should be part of the advisory committee.
An overwhelming 69 per cent of the respondents want public policy experts and financial sector experts to be part of the advisory committee that will be formed by RBI to look into the applications.