Religare forms panel to boost efforts for banking foray

Financial services provider Religare Enterprises today said it has set up an advisory panel that would help it in foraying into the banking sector.

Suman Bery, a former special consultant to the RBI, and former president NASSCOM Kiran Karnik have joined the panel and additional members would be announced shortly, Religare Enterprises said in a statement.

"With the formation of the Advisory Panel, we have re-affirmed our commitment to building a world-class bank in India. We are pleased that such distinguished members have agreed to support us in our endeavour," REL Chairman Sunil Godhwani said.

The panel will help the Religare management team create a model that is innovative and commercially viable and meets all regulatory guidelines, he said.

RBI yesterday released draft guidelines for allowing business houses, with successful track record of 10 years and minimum capital of Rs 500 crore, to set up commercial banks.

The guidelines also provide a framework for converting non-banking financial companies into banks.

As per the draft guidelines, companies which are primarily engaged in real estate or stock broking will not be eligible for setting up banks.

The draft guidelines also state that the new banks will be set up only through wholly-owned non-operative holding companies (NOHC) registered with the RBI as NBFCs, which will administer the bank as well as all the other financial companies in the promoter group.