mumbai business groups embroiled in the 2g telecom scam could find it difficult to get a banking licence the reserve bank of india rbi may ask all applicants to provide a no objection certificate noc from regulatory and investigating agencies to be eligible for a licencethe central bank has prepared its guidelines for new bank licences in keeping with the finance ministers budget announcement that norms will be ready by the end of this month however sources said that the window for accepting applications will be opened only after the centre amends the banking legislation to give rbi more regulatory oversight over groups and aligns voting rights with shareholdingaccording to sources rbi would rather let strong professionally managed finance companies convert into banks the biggest dilemma in granting licence to corporates would be in choosing one group over the other while investigations into the 2g scam will make it difficult for many business houses exposure to real estate will keep some others out as rbi does not want to grant licences to those connected with this sensitive sectorin a bid to avoid a deluge of applications the central bank is likely to set stringent eligibility criteria for promoters even in its discussion paper on granting licences to new banks rbi had indicated that the promoters would be asked to get a clearance from investigating agencies like the central bureau of investigation incometax department and enforcement directoratethe central bank is under pressure from the government to allow more banks to begin operations finance minister pranab mukherjee had in last years budget said that rbi will grant more bank licences during 2011 in his budget speech on monday mukherjee reiterated that rbi will come out with guidelines by the end of this monthin recent years rbi has taken the stance that consolidation is required at the lower end of the industry it has nudged a couple of small banks into getting merged with larger ones consolidation has been encouraged in the cooperative sector and also among regional rural banks whose numbers have come down significantly following mergers the central bank is also not in favour of dual licences after the failure of the concept of limited area banks which was introduced in the then finance minister p chidambarams dream budget of 1996