5 PSBs to have majority stake in Payments Corp

Five public sector banks - State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India - will have the majority stake in a new company to be incorporated to undertake the payment and settlement work, currently being done by Reserve Bank of India. Initially the company, to be incorporated under Section 25 of the Companies Act, will have nine shareholders - five PSU banks, two private and two foreign banks. The non-PSU banks are likely to be ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Standard Chartered and HSBC. Initially, the proposed company-National Payments Corporation of India-will take over the RBI-run clearing houses in the four metros-Mumbai, Delhi Chennai, and Kolkata. The employees of these clearing houses will also be transferred on deputation to the new company.