<div><div>India's leading mobile carriers Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone India were among 11 companies selected by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to help set up "payments banks" aimed at granting millions of citizens access to basic banking.</div><div> </div><div>Energy-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, controlled by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, which plans to set up a payments bank in a partnership with top lender State Bank of India, was among the winners.</div><div> </div><div>Payments banks will be able to take deposits and remittances but will not be allowed to lend. They are part of India's financial inclusion push, meant to bring banking services to a country where less half the adult population has a bank account.</div><div> </div><div>The aim is for payments banks to piggy-back on existing retail or other networks.</div><div> </div><div>Dilip Shanghvi, the second-richest Indian, was also among those who won a permit.</div><div> </div><div>The country's postal office, and a joint venture of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd and third largest Indian cellphone carrier Idea Cellular were among others selected by the central bank. </div><div> </div><div>Fino PayTech Ltd and Cholamandalam Distribution Services Ltd, which already work with banks as agents or distribute financial products were also given provisional approval.</div><div> </div><div>The companies selected will be given "in-principle" approval for 18 months, after which they will be given licences if they fulfil all conditions stipulated by the RBI, the central bank said on Wednesday.</div><div> </div><div>A total of 41 companies had applied for the permit, the RBI said, adding "some of the entities who did not qualify in this round, could well be successful in future rounds."</div><div> </div><div>Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of mobile wallet services provider PayTM that is partly owned by Alibaba's Ant Financial, was also selected. India's fifth-biggest software exporter Tech Mahindra was also named among the winners.</div><div> </div></div><div>(Reuters)</div>
