“India’s central bank said companies must have an equity capital of 5 billion rupees ($92 million) and a 10-year track record before getting a banking license, as it begins taking applications for the first time in a decade.
Foreign ownership of new lenders will be capped at 49 percent for five years, the Reserve Bankof India said in a e- mail statement. Companies must apply by July 1.
The rules bring India a step closer to issuing new permits as part of a process that has been under way for more than three years. Lenders winning licenses will compete with State Bank of India (SBIN), the nation’s largest, and ICICI Bank Ltd. (ICICIBC) amid the slowest economic growth in 10 years.
The licenses are unlikely to be issued until late 2014 or early 2015, A.S.V. Krishnan, a Mumbai-based analyst at Ambit Capital Pvt. said by phone today.
India’s banking sector needs to be open to more private companies to improve access to banking services, former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said in February 2010….”
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