The much awaited discussion paper on guidelines for issuing new bank licenses might be released on August 11. The banking regulator had earlier said that the discussion paper would be released by July 31. But the date has now been extended to August.

RBI has said that the paper would be deeply scrutinizing all pros and cons of the issue and would contain practically every detail about the new bank licenses.

It is assumed that the promoters' holding may be kept at 26% as against the current 10%.

Furthermore, the new entrants might be asked to focus more on rural areas and also base their clientele' on rural areas. There are two reasons to support this. First, the new entrants would thus focus more on the motive of financial inclusion and second, the domestic banks would not face steep competition in the urban market.

The issue of corporate houses getting license or not is a major area of enthusiasm and query for all.