The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday announced that it has constituted a Standing External Advisory Committee (SEAC) to evaluate applications for Universal Banks and Small Finance Banks (SFBs).
The committee, appointed for a three-year term, will be chaired by MK Jain, former Deputy Governor of the RBI, and comprises five prominent members with extensive expertise in banking, finance, and regulation.
The other members include Revathy Iyer, Director of the RBI’s Central Board; Parvathy V Sundaram, former Executive Director at the RBI; Hemant G Contractor, who previously served as Managing Director at the State Bank of India and Chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA); and NS Kannan, former Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
The RBI had indicated that applications for Universal Banks and SFBs will first undergo an initial screening process to ensure the prima facie eligibility of the applicants. Following this, the SEAC will evaluate the applications in detail. This newly formed committee succeeds the advisory body established in 2021, which was chaired by Shyamala Gopinath, a former Deputy Governor of the RBI. Like its predecessor, the new SEAC aims to bring transparency and rigor to the evaluation process, ensuring that applications for Universal Banks and SFBs are thoroughly assessed.