Union Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena informed Rajya Sabha that as on date no application for licence under the new banking guidelines was received and no licence has been granted under these new guidelines.
On February 22, the central bank released ‘Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in Private Sector’ to promote financial inclusion and further infuse competition in the banking sector. RBI allowed companies to apply for the license till July 1, 2013.
Also, the central bank gave time to interested parties till April 10 for seeking clarification on the issue.
Meanwhile, the minister also clarified that in order to set up the Post Bank of India (PBI) by an Act of Parliament, necessary legislation will need to be framed and passed by the Parliament.
He said this in reply to another query on the Department of PostsÂ’ proposal for providing banking services. The Post Bank would require a banking licence from RBI as per the RBIÂ’s extant guidelines issued in February, 2013 in order to function as banking company.
In order to provide banking services in rural areas and promote financial inclusion, Department of Posts has proposed to set up the PBI with a network of 1.55 lakh post offices.
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