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On Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a list of eight entities/promoters who wish to apply for universal commercial bank and small finance bank licenses. The top contenders include Sachin Bansal’s Chaitanya India Fin Credit, forex major UAE Exchange and Dvara’s micro-finance arm.
Recently, the central bank appointed an expert committee to evaluate applicants for bank licenses. This committee will evaluate fresh applicants who wish to apply for ‘on tap’ bank licenses over the next three years, in addition to non-bank lenders and payments bank that wish to convert to an SFB or universal bank. In 2014, the RBI gave universal banking licenses to Bandhan Bank, a micro-finance lender, and IDFC Bank, a development finance company. IDFC Bank was merged with Capital First and is now called IDFC First Bank.