National Payments Corporation of India expands shareholding base to 56 banks

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payments system in the country, has broad-based its shareholding base to 56 banks from 10 banks earlier.

The 46 new banks comprise of 13 public, 15 private, a foreign, 10 multi-state co-operative and seven regional rural banks, the company said in a statement. The ten promoters of the company are State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and Union Bank of India.

On the other hand, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank are the two private sector banks. Citibank and HSBC are the two foreign bank promoters.

"Being the payments system utility for all the banks in the country, it was a natural progression and was also a requirement from the Reserve Bank of India. The expansion will make NPCI a truly community-owned institution," AP Hota, Managing Director and CEO of NPCI, said in the statement.

NPCI was set up in 2009 as the central infrastructure for various retail payment systems in India and it was envisaged by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the payment utility for all banks in the country.

In the last six years, the organisation has grown from two million transactions a day to 25 million transactions. The range of services has grown to cheque clearing, immediate payments service money transfer (24x7), automated clearing house and electronic benefit transfer.