The Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), R.Gandhi, said that there are 113 applications before the apex bank seeking licence to establish a mix of small finance and payment banks.
Delivering the 10th Sri V.Naryanan Memorial Lecture at the SASTRA University campus here on Saturday on “Differentiated Banks and Design Challenges”, Mr.Gandhi highlighted the recommendations of the Nachiketh Mor committee on the need for vertical and horizontal differentiation of banks.
Based on the capital, scope and area of operation, the need for differentiation amongst banks was a key factor to harvest the fruits of the massive financial inclusion policy being implemented by the banking institutions across the nation in a bid to take banking services to the unreached, Mr.Gandhi said adding that the creation of small finance and payment banks was a major step in that direction.
The RBI Deputy Governor said that there were 72 entities who have applied for opening new small financing banks and another 41 applications were for payment banking.
“Technology would be the key driver for payment bank profitability while service excellence and the unsatiated demand for banking services would drive the success of small finance banks,” said Mr.Gandhi.
“The policy of differentiated banks has the challenges and limitations that need to be overcome through careful policy checks and service delivery mechanisms. The opening of 14.70 crore new accounts under the Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana and the identification of 4.93 lakh villages for banking services expansion were some key moves to achieve the financial inclusion targets,” concluded Mr.Gandhi.
S.Vaidhyasubramaniam, Dean, SASTRA University, welcomed the gathering recalling the services of late V.Narayanan of the City Union Bank. The CUB Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, N.Kamakodi, spoke.
