Pranab offers incentives for private banks

New Delhi, Feb 26: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday, Feb 26, announced that the RBI is considering new bank licenses to promoters in the private sector.

The market experts feel that if such a move happens then that would be the first time post 2002 that RBI would look at such a move.

In 2002, the RBI had granted an 'in-principle' approval to Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd (KMFL) and three Indian finance professionals who had teamed up with Rabo India to set a up commercial bank- the Yes Bank.

Indian corporate bigwigs like Tata, Birla group, and some of the older Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) have expressed their interest in a banking license.

Among finance companies, Reliance Capital and India bulls have already announced their interest in getting into banking sector.

Lenders such as the Exim Bank and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) were also interested in a banking license.

ANI