IDFC may buy stake in Future Group's planned payments bank

MUMBAI (Reuters) - IDFC Ltd said it may buy a small equity stake in a payments bank planned by local retailer Future Group, subject to the retailer winning a licence from the central bank.

Future Group earlier on Monday said it had applied for a payments bank permit through its founder Kishore Biyani. Monday is the deadline for applications for the so-called payments banks - that cannot lend - and also for small finance banks.

IDFC, primarily a lender to the infrastructure sector, is one of two companies that won the Reserve Bank of India's approval last year to set up full-service banks. It has yet to start banking operations.

 

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Sunil Nair)