RBI extends time for applying for small and payments bank licences

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended the deadline for submission of applications for licensing of Small Finance Banks (SFBs) and Payments Banks (PBs) till 2 February following requests by several entities seeking extension of the deadline in view of the difficulties of meeting the deadline.

The earlier deadline was 16 January 2014.

''Keeping in view the difficulties expressed by various parties, it has been decided to extend the last date of receipt of applications to February 2, 2015,'' the regulator said in a release.

RBI also clarified that the minimum capital required for setting up these niche banking entities would be Rs100 crore.

Reserve Bank said it had received 176 and 144 queries from individuals/organisations relating to small finance banks and payment banks, respectively, as of 15 December 2014. RBI has provided clarifications to all the queries on its web site. A few queries have been clubbed with other related queries for the sake of clarity and continuity, RBI said.

The Reserve Bank released the guidelines for licensing `Small Finance Banks' and `Payments Banks' in the private sector on its web site on 27 November 2014. Following the issue of the guidelines, RBI issued a press release, on 8 December 2014, inviting queries from intending applicants seeking clarifications on the guidelines and also stated that considering that the clarifications provided would be of wider interest and use for all intending applicants.