RBI thumbs down request for exemptions

All new banking license applicants must comply with all norms.

The Reserve Bank of India emphasized that all license applicants will have to comply with all its guidelines.

Deputy Governor Anand Sinha said applicants have been given a transition period, so RBI expects them to comply with all the requirements. Guidelines are now in place and people have to comply with them, he added.

His statement follows news that some applicants had asked for exemptions from the mandatory requirements laid down by the RBI in its final guidelines for licensing of new banks.

On the processing of the applications, Sinha described this as quite extensive because “now we are looking at corporates as well. So, the workload is quite heavy in that sense.”