Big corporate houses including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla, Airtel and Future Group have applied for payment bank licence.
A number of entities have also applied for setting up small finance banks. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced these two niche banking categories to take financial inclusion forward and boost savings habits.
Those having applied for small finance bank licence include SKS Microfinance, UAE Exchange India, Dewan Housing Finance and SE Investments.
RBI had extended the deadline for the submission of applications to open small finance banks and payments banks to 2 February from 16 January.
