Jalan panel on bank licences to hold last meeting on Feb 25

New Delhi: The Bimal Jalan panel which is scrutinising applications for new bank licences will hold its last meeting on Tuesday.

"We are having our meeting on February 25," Jalan, a former Reserve Bank Governor who heads the panel, said. "Hopefully, this should be the last meeting."

Thereafter, the high-level advisory panel will submit its report, along with recommendations, to the Reserve Bank of India.

The panel started the process of evaluations with the first meeting on November 1, 2013.

Other members of the committee are former RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat, former Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman C B Bhave and Nachiket M Mor, Director of the Central Board of Directors of the RBI.

The central bank issued guidelines for licensing of new banks on February 22 last year and issued clarifications in June.

Public sector units India Post and IFCI and private sector Anil Ambani group and Aditya Birla group are among the 25 players in the fray for bank licences. Bajaj Finance, Muthoot Finance, Religare Enterprises and Shriram Capital have also applied.

In the past 20 years, the RBI has licensed 12 banks in the private sector in two phases. Ten banks were licensed on the basis of guidelines issued in January 1993.

Kotak Mahindra Bank and Yes Bank were the last two entities to get banking licences from the RBI in 2003-04.

India has 27 public sector banks, 22 private sector banks and 56 regional rural banks.

In the 2001 round of guidelines for new licences, the committee members were C G Somiah, former government auditor CAG, I G Patel, former RBI Governor, and Dipankar Basu, former head of State Bank of India.