New Delhi, Feb 2
A few top Indian companies
including Reliance Industries Ltd., Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited and Future
Group Monday applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for payments
bank licences.
Reliance Industries has roped in the State Bank of
India (SBI) as an active equity partner as it seeks a licence to extend
affordable banking and payments solutions in the country assisted with
access to 15,869 branches and vast network of India's largest commercial
bank.
Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited (ABNL), promoter and largest
shareholder of Idea Cellular, also applied for Payments Bank licence
with the RBI, a filing in the Bombay Stock Exchange by the companies
said.
The Kishore Biyani-led Future Group also Monday applied for
a payments bank licence with the RBI, the banking entity would be
called NuFuture Payments Bank.
Last week, Bharti Airtel announced it was teaming up with Kotak Mahindra Bank to apply for payments bank.
The
RBI issued guidelines for licensing of payments bank Nov 27, 2014. The
apex bank earlier extended the last of submission of applications for
licence of payments banks to Feb 2.
A payments bank, as defined
by the Reserve Bank's draft rules, can accept deposits, both savings and
current, up to a maximum of Rs.10,000 initially, with the stated
primary role of extending payments and remittance services to small
businesses and low-income households.
Besides, physical branches,
some key facilitators for such services can include ATMs, mobile and
internet banking, authorised business correspondents and point-of-sale
terminal locations, as in retail stores.
"Reliance Industries
Ltd. (RIL) has applied for a payments bank licence. RIL will be the
promoter and State Bank of India will be the joint venture partner with
equity investment of up to 30 percent," Reliance Industries said in a
statement.
The venture is expected to be dovetailed with
Reliance's ambitious plans to launch a pan-India broadband service
network, initially covering all the states and some 5,000 cities and
towns, accounting for over 90 percent of urban India and over 215,000
out of some 645,000 villages.
"The payments bank will leverage
SBI's nationwide distribution network and its risk management
capabilities along with the substantial investments made by RIL in its
retail and telecom businesses," the company said.
"It will deploy
state-of-the-art technology, build scalable infrastructure and create
extensive branch and business correspondent network in order to provide
last-mile access and intuitive user experience to all sections of
society."
Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited (ABNL), promoter and largest
shareholder of Idea Cellular, also applied for Payments Bank licence
with the RBI, a filing in the Bombay Stock Exchange by the two companies
said.
"ABNL has Feb 2, 2015, submitted an application to the RBI
for grant of licence for setting-up 'Payments Bank', in accordance with
the Payments Bank guidelines in which process Idea (Cellular) is
partnering with ABNL. ABNL would hold 51 percent equity in the Payments
Bank, which is proposed to be registered as 'Idea Payments Bank
Limited'," the statement said.
The Board of Directors of Idea has
approved participation in the Payments Bank up to 49 percent under the
automatic route and up to 60 percent or as permitted from time to time
with approval of regulatory bodies as applicable, the statement said.
The
Kishore Biyani-led Future Group also Monday applied for a payments bank
licence with the RBI, the banking entity would be called NuFuture
Payments Bank.
The proposed payments bank will work towards
extending the RBI's mandate of financial inclusion by focusing on the
group's core consumer segments that include women, migrant workers,
self-employed people as well as farmers and local entrepreneurs, the
company said in a statement here.
Over 320 million customers visited Future Group retail chains in 2014, it added.
"The
RBI's vision for the payments bank offers us an opportunity to bring us
closer to our goal of offering more choice and convenience to Indians
that help them plan their savings and consumption better," said group
chief executive Kishore Biyani.
