Banking licence: Tata withdraws application

The current round of licences are expected to be handed out before the general elections next year. The move has also been seen as a means to allow the domestic corporate sector to enter banking.

Tata,which has followed Mahindra out of the ring,made its decision at a board meeting earlier this week,sources said. Analysts said RBI Governor Raghuram Rajans statements that he would like to move away from a one-time acceptance of applications for bank licences,and that all banks neednt follow the same model,might have given Tata reason to decide to wait for now.

After prolonged deliberations and detailed analysis,Tata Sons has8230; decided to withdraw its application dated 1 July,2013,from the current round of licensing, the Tata statement said.