RBI grants In-principle Approval to 10 Applicants for Small Finance Banks

Approval granted will be valid for 18 months to enable the applicants to comply with the requirements under the Guidelines

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted "in-principle" approval to the following 10 applicants to set up small finance banks under the "Guidelines for Licensing of Small Finance Banks in the private sector" (Guidelines) issued on 27 November 2014.

Names of selected applicants

1. Au Financiers (India) Ltd., Jaipur

2. Capital Local Area Bank Ltd., Jalandhar

3. Disha Microfin Private Ltd., Ahmedabad

4. Equitas Holdings P Limited, Chennai

5. ESAF Microfinance and Investments Private Ltd., Chennai

6. Janalakshmi Financial Services Private Limited, Bengaluru

7. RGVN (North East) Microfinance Limited, Guwahati

8. Suryoday Micro Finance Private Ltd., Navi Mumbai

9. Ujjivan Financial Services Private Ltd., Bengaluru

10. Utkarsh Micro Finance Private Ltd., Varanasi

The "in-principle" approval granted will be valid for 18 months to enable the applicants to comply with the requirements under the Guidelines and fulfil other conditions as may be stipulated by the RBI. On being satisfied that the applicants have complied with the requisite conditions laid down by it as part of "in-principle" approval, the RBI would consider granting them a licence for commencement of banking business under Section 22(1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

Going forward, the Reserve Bank intends to use the learning from this licensing round to appropriately revise the Guidelines and move to giving licences more regularly, that is, virtually "on tap".

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