Raghuram Rajan: ‘We are not perturbed over people backing out, they should think before applying for payments banks’ licences'

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said the central bank was not perturbed by companies who backed out after getting the licences for payments banks.

The central bank had given in-principle nod to 11 companies to set up payments banks in the country that won’t offer loans but could raise deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh, enable transfers and remittances through a mobile phone, issue debit cards and ATM cards usable on ATM networks of all banks, etc.

The entities such as Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Tech Mahindra, Airtel, Vodafone, Paytm, etc got the licences.

However, three companies Telenor, Sun Pharma and Tech Mahindra have backed out of the plan.

While addressing the news conference on bi-monthly monetary policy, Rajan said the licences were given out to companies who have base of operations at many contact points , for instance someone affiliated with mobile companies.

“We are not perturbed that they have backed out and it suggests that licensing has been liberal and a variety of players have come in. But, people should devote adequate time in thinking whether they should apply or not as assessors have to undergo lot of thought while processing the applications,” said Rajan.

“When you go forward, do proper assessment and don’t go for payments banks because of valuable property. We are not perturbed,” advised Rajan.

Meanwhile, Rajan maintained status quo and kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was also held steady at 4 per cent.

(Image: Indiatimes)