Big names enter race for payments bank

Big names enter race for payments bank

 Top corporates and telecom companies have applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open Payments Banks .
Among those applied for the licence include Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Aditya Birla Nuvo, Future group, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular to name a few. The last date for submission of application ended on Monday.
The RBI is yet to come out with the comprehensive list of the applicants.
Payments or small finance banks are being planned to augment(grow) financial inclusion and provide basic banking services to un-banked population. They will help in saving, facilitate remittances(A payment of money sent to a person in another place) and provide payment services.
RIL, on Monday, said it had applied for a Payments Bank licence, and will be the promoter of the bank. State Bank of India will be its joint venture partner with equity investment of up to 30 per cent in this venture.
“The Payments Bank will leverage SBI’s nationwide distribution network and risk management capabilities along with the substantial investments made by RIL in its retail and telecom businesses. 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(Spontaneously derived from or prompted by a natural tendency) user experience to all sections of society,” RIL said in a statement.
Bharti Airtel was the first to apply for a Payments Bank through its subsidiary Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank will have 19.9 per cent stake.
Idea Cellular said it has applied for a licence in partnership with group company Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. 
Future Group that runs Big Bazaar and a host of modern retail brands has also applied for a licence, and it is likely to partner with IDFC.
Among those applied for the small finance bank licence include SKS Microfinance, DHFL, UAE Exchange and Village Financial Services.

N. Anand addsfrom Chennai

Two non-banking financial companies — micro finance institutions from Tamil Nadu Grama Vidiyal and Equitas Holdings — have applied for small finance banks.