RBI to issue discussion paper on new bank licences norms soon

Formulation of a discussion paper on the proposed new guidelines for banking licences is in its final stages, a top Reserve Bank official said here today.

"Very soon we are going to place the discussion paper in the public domain," Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn told reporters here.

He declined to comment on when the guidelines would be out. "It is in the final stages of drafting," he said.

Early last month, the apex bank had said it would come out with the discussion paper on guidelines for granting new banking licences by the end of July.

Under the current guidelines, a new private sector bank should have a minimum net worth of Rs 300 crore and no single entity or group of related entities should hold more than a 10 per cent stake in it.

Many business houses, including Religare, the AV Birla Group, Anil Ambani Group, Bajaj Auto and city-headquartered non-banking finance company Shriram Group have evinced interest in acquiring banking licences.

Stating that the RBI has done enough to manage inflation, he said they would wait and see the impact of their measures in the latter half of this year.

"We expect to see the effect in the second half of this year", he said, adding that softening of commodity prices will help in inflation management.

He said the situation in Europe and the United States was a cause of concern, "as it may impact capital inflows".

Admitting that global growth was looking a little more unsettled, he said there is still some more uncertainty about the robustness of the global economic recovery.

However, he said the slower growth of recovery was actually an opportunity, as it would contribute to inflation management. "There is a fair amount of excess capacity on manufacturing products, which are easily traded, and that will help to manage domestic inflation," he said.

Gokarn said the combination of a good monsoon and the softening of commodities at the global level will help ease supply side pressures.

Earlier, addressing a conference on 'Financial Inclusion' organised by business school Great Lakes Institute of Management at Manamai, about 80 km from here, Gokarn said the percentage of older people in the country will increase after 25-30 years and it will be a challenge to address this issue.

However, he said the setting up of the Pension Fund Regulatory Authority and the new Pension Scheme were an "important development" in this regard.