India is looking to expand banking sector in a big way. A traditionally conservative Reserve Bank of India is taking big steps to bring in niche banking as country travels on growth path.

Applications for licensing of small finance banks and payments banks closed on February 2 and as many as 72 applications for small finance banks and 41 applications for payments banks were received by the RBI.

Names of the applicants for Small Finance Banks 1.Aamcol Trexim Pvt. Ltd & Mackmorn Commodities Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata 2.Apex Abishek Finance Limited, Coimbatore 3.Ashika Global Securities Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata 4.Asomi Finance Private Limited, Guwahati 5.Au Financiers (India) Limited, Jaipur 6.Bhartiya Samruddhi Investments and Consulting Services Ltd., New Delhi 7.BRD Securities Ltd., Thrissur 8.Bretton Woods Exim Private Limited, New Delhi 9.Calance Software Private Limited, New Delhi 10.Capital Local Area Bank Ltd., Jalandhar 11.Capital Trust Limited, New Delhi 12.Chaitanya India Fin Credit Private Limited, Bengaluru 13.Coastal Local Area Bank Ltd., Vijayawada 14.Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited, Mumbai 15.Disha Microfin Private Limited, Ahmedabad 16.Dr. K. Cherian Varghese, Kochi 17.Dr. Shubhro Sen, New Delhi 18.Electronica Finance Limited, Pune 19.Elite Green Private Limited, Ahmedabad 20.Equitas Holding P Ltd., Chennai 21.ESAF Microfinance and Investments Private Limited, Chennai 22.Grama Vidiyal Micro Finance Limited, Tiruchirapalli 23.Home First Finance Company India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai 24.Idhayam – G Finance and Investment Services Limited, Virudhunagar 25.IIFL Holdings Limited, Thane26.Indigo Fincap Private Limited, Nawanshahar 27.IntelleCash Microfinance Network Company Private Limited, New Delhi 28.Inventure Finance Private Limited, Mumbai 29.Ishan Developers & Infrastructure Ltd., Chandigarh 30.Jagaran Microfin Private Limited, Kolkata 31.Jainco Projects (India) Limited, Kolkata 32.Janalakshmi Financial Services Private Limited, Bengaluru 33.Kerala Permanent Benefit Fund Ltd., Aluva 34.Kosamattam Finance Limited, Kottayam 35.Kotalipara Development Society, 24 Parganas North 36.Light Microfinance Private Ltd., New Delhi 37.Lulu Forex Private Ltd., Kochi 38.Mahanadhi Finance Limited, Erode 39.Mangal Keshav Capital Limited, Mumbai 40.Microsec Resources Private Limited, Kolkata 41.Smt. Rajni Aneja, New Delhi 42.Pareka Investment Private Limited, Kolkata 43.Professional Management &Advisory Services (P) Ltd., Delhi 44.Proficient Leasing & Finance Ltd., Allahabad 45.Repco Micro Finance Ltd., Chennai 46.RGVN (North East) Microfinance Limited, Guwahati 47.S. E. Investments Limited, Agra 48.Sahara Utsarga Welfare Society, 24 Parganas North 49.Saija Finance Private Limited, New Delhi 50.Satin Creditcare Network Limited, New Delhi 51.Shri Ajay Singh Bimbhet & others, Mumbai 52.Shri Ajit Kumar Sharan, Mumbai 53.Shri Collin R Timms & others, Mumbai 54.Shri Kiran Dhondopant Thakur & others, Belgaum 55.Shri M. R. Seetharam, Bengaluru 56.Shri Manish Khera, Mumbai 57.Shri Nijay Kumar Gupta, Mumbai 58.Shri V.Balakrishnan & others, Bengaluru 59.Shri Vinod Jain, Gurgaon 60.SKS Microfinance Limited, Mumbai 61.Sonata Finance Pvt. Ltd., Lucknow 62.Sri Jayalakshmi Automotives Private Limited, Hyderabad 63.Sunmarg Welfare Society, 24 Parganas South 64.Suryoday Micro Finance Private Limited, Navi Mumbai 65.Tri-Deep Leasing And Finance Limited, New Delhi 66.UAE Exchange & Financial Services Ltd., Bengaluru 67.Ujjivan Financial Services Private Limited, Bengaluru 68.Utkarsh Micro Finance Private Limited, Varanasi 69.VAYA Finserv Private Limited, Hyderabad 70.Village Financial Services Private Limited, Kolkata 71.Vinayak Local Area Bank Limited, Sikar 72.Vsoft Technologies Private Limited, Hyderabad

Names of the applicants for Payments Banks 1.A Little World Private Limited, Belapur 2.Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited, Mumbai 3.Airtel M Commerce Services Limited, New Delhi 4.Calibre Financial Services Limited, Chennai 5.Cholamandalam Distribution Services Limited, Chennai 6.Citrus Payment Solutions Private Limited, Mumbai 7.Concept Technosoft Ventures Limited, New Delhi 8.Department of Posts, New Delhi 9.Eko India Financial Service Private Limited, New Delhi 10.FINO PayTech Limited, Navi Mumbai 11.Fx Mart Private Limited, Zirakpur, Mohali 12.GI Technology Private Limited, Chennai 13.Instant Global Money Transfer Private Limited, Hoshiarpur 14.Itz Cash Card Limited, Mumbai 15.Kalpataru Corporation, Mumbai 16.KKM Management Centre Private Limited, New Delhi 17.My Mobile Payments Limited, Mumbai 18.National Securities Depository Limited, Mumbai 19.Novopay Solutions Private Limited, Bengaluru 20.NSE Strategic Investment Corporation Limited, Mumbai 21.One MobiKwik Systems Private Limited, Gurgaon 22.Oxigen Services (India) Private Limited, New Delhi 23.Pay Point India Network Private Limited, Mumbai 24.Reliance Industries Limited, Mumbai 25.Resource Square Solutions Private Limited, Chennai 26.Shri Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi, Mumbai 27.Shri Kishore Laxminarayan Biyani, Mumbai 28.Shri M.G. George Muthoot & others, Kochi 29.Shri Nijay Kumar Gupta, Mumbai 30.Shri Rajib Saha, Gurgaon 31.Shri Renuka Mata MultiState Co-operative Urban Credit Society Ltd., Ahmednagar 32.Shri Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Noida 33.Smart Payment Solutions Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi 34.Suvidhaa Infoserve Private Limited, Mumbai 35.Tech Mahindra Limited, Mumbai 36.V. K. Fiscal Services Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi 37.Vakrangee Limited, Mumbai 38.Videocon d2h Limited, Mumbai 39.Vodafone m-pesa Limited, Mumbai 40.Weizmann Forex Limited, Mumbai 41.YouFirst Money Express Private Limited, Mumbai

 

The central bank has released the list of applicants and a look at it reveals interesting entities and their bid to enter the sector, much away from their core business.

Big corporates like Ambanis and Birlas to seek entry into banking business along with Department of Posts. In the race to open newly created niche category of payments and small finance banks are Tech Mahindra, Videocon Group and NSE (stock exchange).

As many as 12 individuals like ex-Fino Managing Director Manish Khera and V Balakrishnan former CFO of Infosys have applied under small finance bank category.

Six applications for Payments Bank were submitted by individuals like Kishore Biyani of Future Group, M G George Muthoot chairman of Muthoot Group and Dilip S Shanghvi MD of Sun Pharma.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has managed to get SBI as partner for banking operations. Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel has tied up private sector Kotak Mahindra Bank for payments bank.

Besides, Janalakshmi Financial Services Private Limited, India Infoline Ltd, Department of Posts and Aditya Birla Nuvo also applied for full-fledged banking licences.

Small finance banks will primarily undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to unserved and under-served sections including small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities.

Payments Banks would be allowed payments and remittance services through various channels. However, such banks cannot issue credit cards or undertake lending activities.

Two external committees would evaluate applications based on fit and proper criteria and other parameters stated in the guidelines.

The EACs for small finance banks and payments banks will be chaired by former RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat, and Nachiket Mor, Director, Central Board of RBI, respectively.

Members of EAC for small finance banks are M S Sahoo, Secretary, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India, M S Sriram, IIM Bangalore and M Balachandran, chairman, National Payments Corporation of India.

The EAC for Payments Banks would have three members--Roopa Kudva, former MD of Crisil, Shubhalakshmi Panse, former chairman & managing director, Allahabad Bank and Deepak Phatak, IIT Bombay.