Former BharatPe chief, Ashneer Grover, on May 18 said that the acquisition of crisis-ridden Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) last year by Centrum-BharatPe consoritum was the smartest corporate move in history.
Grover said this in the context of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rejecting the applications of six out of 11 banking permit applicants on 17 May. The remaining applications are yet to be examined, the RBI said.
“The acquisition of PMC Bank, driven by Jaspal Bindra & @Ashneer_Grover to create Unity SFB will go down as one of the smartest corporate moves in history. Not a big fan of licenses but you need it to play the big boys game. India needs disruptive banks ! (Sic),” said Grover in a tweet.
The RBI on June 18, 2021 granted “in-principle” approval to Centrum Financial Services Limited to set up a small finance bank (SFB), paving the way for the entity to take over the crisis-ridden PMC Bank.
Following this, the PMC Bank branches started operating as Unity Small Finance Bank Ltd. branches from January 25, 2022, the RBI said in a press release.
Earlier, the government had sanctioned and notified the scheme for the amalgamation of PMC Bank with Unity .
On May 17, the RBI said it has found six applicants not suitable for permits of small finance bank licences and universal bank licences after an examination.
Those found not suitable for universal bank permits are UAE Exchange and Financial Services Limited, The Repatriates Cooperative Finance and Development Bank Limited (REPCO Bank), Chaitanya India Fin Credit Private Limited, and Shri Pankaj Vaish, and others.
The applicants not found suitable for SFB permits are VSoft Technologies Private Limited and Calicut City Service Co-operative Bank Limited. The remaining applications are under examination, the RBI said.
The RBI had received 11 applications to set up bank under the guidelines for ‘on tap’ licensing of universal banks and small finance banks.
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