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Tata Sons Withdraws Application For Bank Licence
BBC NEWS, BUSINESS
November 28, 2013: One of India's biggest conglomerates Tata Sons, has withdrawn its application for a banking license. The group, which has diverse interests, ranging from cars to steel, said its current financial services business best suits its strategy.
India's central bank is expected to issues new banking licenses, the first in nearly a decade, early next year. A large part of India's 1.2 billion population still does not have access to banking services. The move to issue new licenses is seen as an attempt to give more people, especially in rural areas, access to such services.
Tata's withdrawal leaves 25 applicants including the Aditya Birla Group, the Bajaj Group and Reliance Group in the race for a banking license. However, Tata said it would "continue to monitor developments in this space with great interest and looks forward to participating in the banking sector at an appropriate time",
Easing rules
Along with issuing new licenses, India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has also taken other steps to liberalize the sector. In November, it unveiled new rules that will allow foreign banks to expand their presence in the country. Foreign banks will now be allowed to set up "wholly owned subsidiaries" in India, which will enable them to open branches anywhere in the country.
The changes are also seen as part of the push by the central bank's new governor, Raghuram Rajan, to boost economic growth. The RBI had added that it would also consider introducing takeover rules that would allow foreign companies to own as much as 74% of a domestic bank. But it said any such decision would be taken after a review relating to "the extent of penetration of foreign investment in Indian banks and functioning of foreign banks".
