Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

27-April-2012 17:36 IST

Banking Licence

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that it had issued guidelines for licensing of new banks in the private sector on January 22, 1993 and licenses were issued accordingly. Thereafter, fresh guidelines were issued on January 3, 2001 and licenses were issued consequently. No guidelines indicating the criteria for issuing licenses to start a new bank in the country has been issued by RBI after January 3, 2001.

As per RBI Annual Policy statement for 2010-11 on licensing of new banks, a discussion paper was prepared and placed on RBI website www.rbi.org.in on August 11, 2010 inviting public comments on various aspects. After examining the comments/suggestions received, RBI has issued draft guidelines for licensing of new banks in the private sector on 29.08.2011 which can be seen on RBI website. RBI has informed that it would issue the final guidelines after taking views/suggestions of various stakeholders.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri Namo Narain Meena in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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DSM/SS/Hb

Bank licensing guidelines: draft released, final guidelines pending further stakeholder consultation by regulator. Guidance on licensing of new private-sector banks was previously issued in formal guidelines; no new prescriptive criteria were published after the earlier set until a discussion paper was placed on the regulator's website and a draft set of guidelines was subsequently issued. Final guidelines will be promulgated after considering stakeholder views, maintaining a consultative finalisation process for the licensing framework.