Some applicants may have proposed or indicated their plans to take over or buy out some of the smaller banks in existence; or even have had 'secret' talks for mergers. If such offers are part of the applicant's ‘mission’ to improve and reach out to the rural areas, including extending service to the ‘urban poor’, they deserve serious consideration

AK Ramdas

Soon after the closing date for receipt of applications for new banking licenses, D Subbarao, the then governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), stated that "not all eligible applicants may get the license". At that time, in the first week of July, he did not want to specify the number of licenses that the RBI may issue by March 2014. The only difference, after Dr Raghuram Rajan succeeded him is that now, chances are, licenses may be issued as early as January and not in March 2014 as was indicated at that time.

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