UAE Exchange, Bansal bid for bank licence fail

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rejected applications for bank licences by UAE Exchange and Financial Services, Repco (The Repatriates Cooperative Finance and Development) Bank and exFlipkart chairman Sachin Bansal-backed Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt Ltd. The central bank in a statement on Tuesday said that six out of the 11 applicants have been rejected for a Universal bank and small finance bank licence, while the remaining five applications are being examined.

Bansal said his company will consider whether it would like to appeal against the RBI’s rejection of universal banking licence to his microfinance company Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt Ltd. “The news has just reached us about the RBI rejecting our universal banking licence. We will analyse the reasons behind this and weigh our options. We may also consider appealing against the RBI decision,” Bansal said in a statement.

The RBI rejected all the four applications it had received for setting up universal banks. Further, it has rejected two out of seven applications it received for setting up small finance banks (SFBs).

The RBI, in a statement, said it has found the four applicants— UAE Exchange and Financial Services, The Repatriates Cooperative Finance and Development Bank, Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt Ltd, and Pankaj Vaish and others unsuitable under guidelines for ‘on tap’ licensing of universal banks. The central bank also did not find two applicants—VSoft Technologies and Calicut City Service Cooperative Bank— suitable under guidelines for ‘on tap’ licensing of SFBs , it added.