Mumbai, Sep 4 : The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue new bank licences by January 2014, Raghuram Rajan said Wednesday after becoming the central bank's governor.

“We hope to announce new licences by January 2014,” Rajan told the media after taking charge from Duvvuri Subbarao.

He said a committee headed by former RBI governor Bimal Jalan will screen licence applications and the decisions will be largely based on the recommendations of that committee.

As many as 26 firms, including top corporate houses like Tata Sons, L&T, Reliance Group, Adiya Birla Nuvo, Bajaj, Shriram and Religare, have sought banking licence. The last day for application was July 1.

Rajan said the RBI intended to make the banking licencing process “more frequent”. (IANS)