Realtors, brokerages can run banks if they meet the proper criteria: RBI

27 Feb 2013 Evaluate

After the central bank released the final guidelines for new banking licences, which said an applicant should be “fit and proper” for getting a licence and have a 10-year impeccable track record. Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Deputy Governor K. C. Chakrabarty  has opined that RBI is open to let realty and brokerages run banks, if they meet the “fit and proper criteria” as detailed in the final guidelines. Chakrabarty emphasized that realtors and brokerages carry out legitimate business and said “if they can demonstrate that they satisfy all the requirements, all the concerns how can you deny them. Definitely, if this is not in the guidelines, then it is open”.  

The final guidelines by the RBI allowed business houses, state-run enterprises and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to apply for licences to set up banks, making a climb-down from the initial stance, which had virtually barred Realtors and brokerages from its eligibility criteria, terming in its draft guidelines certain activities, such as real estate and capital market activities, in particular broking activities, which apart from being inherently riskier, represent a business model and business culture which are quite skewed with a banking model.

Chakrabarty said that the number of new banks would depend on the number of eligible and ‘fit and proper’ applicants and no additional time would be given to the new banks to follow cash reserve ratio, statutory liquidity ratio and priority-sector lending requirements, and they are expected to start following the norms from day one.

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