Banks and institutions have suggested to the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) that the minimum capital required for the proposed
non-operative holding company (NOHC) of new banks in the private sector
should be Rs. 1,000 crore instead of Rs. 500 crore.
The
RBI released on Tuesday the gist of comments and suggestions received
on the draft guidelines for ‘licensing of new banks in the private
sector’, which were placed on its website on August 29, 2011. The RBI
said it would take these suggestions / comments into account while
finalising the guidelines.
There were suggestions
that the time for dilution of promoter shareholding (to 40 per cent in
the bank) should be increased from 2 years to 3-5 years. There were
suggestions that the the process of dilution should be done in a
staggered way over a period of 15 years. “Certain parties suggested that
the schedule for dilution of promoters’ shareholding should be reckoned
from the date of commencement of business instead of date of licensing
of the bank,” said RBI.
On foreign shareholding in
the bank, some institutions felt that it should not be restricted in the
new banks and be permitted up to a level of 74 per cent. A few business
houses, NBFCs and a federation felt that restricting foreign
shareholding to 49 per cent for initial 5 years was not a deterrent.
Further, a federation suggested that 5 per cent cap for non-resident
individual/ group was passive and that it would be important to raise
the limit from 5 per cent to 25 per cent to attract strategic investors
and bring synergy in banking.
The RBI said that some
had suggested that the requirement of the non-operative holding company
(NOHC) to be wholly-owned by the promoters might be revisited and
diversified shareholding at the NOHC level be permitted to improve
corporate governance and avoid regulatory overlap. Certain NBFCs also
had suggested that existing non-operative investment/holding companies
should be allowed to own / hold shares of the NOHC.
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