MUMBAI, Aug 19 (Reuters) - India's leading mobile carriersBharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone India wereamong the 11 companies selected by the country's central bank toset up payments banks aimed at granting millions of citizensaccess to formal banking.
Energy-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, a joint venture of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd, and the country's postal officewere also among successful applicants, the Reserve Bank of Indiasaid on Wednesday. (http://bit.ly/1hMiyRB)
These companies selected will be given "in-principle"approval for 18 months, after which they will be given licencesif they fulfil all conditions stipulated by the RBI.
A total of 41 companies had applied for the permit, the RBIsaid, adding "some of the entities who did not qualify in thisround, could well be successful in future rounds."
Payments banks will be able to take deposits and remittancesbut will not be allowed to lend. They are part of India'sfinancial inclusion push, meant to bring banking services to acountry where less half the adult population has a bank account. (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Rafael Nam)