RBI to call for bank licence this week

“It could be out in the first week of the New Year”, the source added.

After Parliament passed the Banking Laws (Amendment) bill in the winter session the government and the RBI are keen to get going on setting up of new banks to add to the 48 domestic private and public sector banks.

Finance minister P Chidambaram has recently said there should also be some mergers and amalgamations in the banking space for a couple of banks of global stature to emerge from India.

Meanwhile, cautioning banks that charge high prices on products offered to customers, RBI Deputy Governor KC Chakrabarty today said a new set of guidelines would be announced during the coming Ombudsman Conference in Mumbai.

“We have intervened in the case of micro-finance institutions. What I am saying is, discriminatory pricing (on products offered to customers) should not be there. Pricing should be non-discriminatory,” Chakrabarty told reporters at Chennai.

During the Ombudsman Conference, to be chaired by RBI Governor D Subbarao, on January 4, new guidelines would be announced. “Some new guidelines will come on how it can be more stringent in pricing the products to customers of banks”, he said.