The Reserve Bank has rejected applications of Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal-backed company Chaitanya India Fin Credit Private Limited, and five others for setting up banks as these were "not found" suitable, an official statement said on Tuesday. The RBI in a statement said the examination of six applications has now been completed as per the procedure laid down under the guidelines. "Based on the assessment of the applications, (six) applicants were not found suitable for granting of in-principle approval to set up banks," it said.
"I would like to resign as an independent director of the bank with effect from January 27, 2020. Given an entity owned and controlled by me has made an application to the RBI for a universal banking license, I felt it was -- in the interest of propriety and corporate governance -- only appropriate that I stepped down from this role," Bansal said in his resignation letter, which was disclosed by Ujjivan SFB in the regulatory filing.
He said he will be 'cheering from the outside' and urged Flipkart team to continue with the momentum.
Flipkart faces intense competition from larger global rival Amazon and local rival Snapdeal.
The deal brings the two start-up stalwarts - Bansal and Ola co-founder and chief executive officer Bhavish Aggarwal - together in the backdrop of growing foreign control in this space.
Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, once hailed as rising stars in India's clean energy sector, are now facing serious regulatory action.
The Navi lending app, launched in May, provides instant loans of up to Rs 5 lakh, with repayment tenures of up to 36 months.
'If the RBI blesses us with a banking licence, we would like to launch a successful bank.'
The management changes come amid talks that the company is preparing for an IPO in the United States.
With regard to his investment in Ola, Bansal said that on the one hand, the ride-hailing major had emerged as a global force in the mobility space and on the other it continued to build deeper for various needs of a billion Indians through its platform. This is the largest funding by an individual in the app cab.
The two parties did not share the deal size but said MavenHive's two founders and 40-odd team members have joined the Bansal-owned firm. MavenHive was started by Bhavin Javia and Anandha Krishnan in 2012.
This September, Sachin Bansal picked 94 per cent stake in microfinance company Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services. His immediate plan is to scale up the company's operations as quickly as possible without making much investment in physical infrastructure and by leveraging technology.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said that this stage would have been "premature" and "very very risky" as the retail inflation is still high, and future monetary policy action would depend upon the income data and outlook. Earlier this month, the RBI continued to maintain the status quo in the short-term lending interest rate (repo), citing inflationary concerns, though it changed the monetary policy stance to neutral.
Navi Mutual Fund (MF), among the latest entrants in the Rs 35-trillion industry, is looking to make a mark in the passive investment space, which is gaining traction in the country. The Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal-led fund house filed seven offer documents with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on a single day this week. Some of the schemes Navi MF plans to launch are Navi NASDAQ 100 Fund of Fund, Navi Nifty Commodities Index Fund, Navi Nifty 100 ESG Index Fund.
Bansal has picked up a majority stake in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services, a company which runs microfinance institution Chaitanya India Fin Credit.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has barred four non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), including two microfinance institutions (MFIs), from sanctioning and disbursing loans for charging exorbitant interest rates to the borrowers. These four entities are Asirvad Microfinance, Arohan Financial Services (also an MFI), DMI Finance, which provides personal, consumption, and micro, small and medium enterprises loans, and Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal's Navi Finserv, which offers home and personal loans. The ban will take effect on October 21 to "facilitate closure of transactions in the pipeline", the regulator said in a statement.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, has paid $1.4 billion to buy out US-based Tiger Global's investment in e-commerce firm Flipkart, according to sources. The transaction puts Flipkart's valuation at $35 billion, against nearly $38 billion in 2021 when it raised funds from Japan's SoftBank, Walmart, and other investors. Tiger Global, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, and Accel now have all fully exited the e-commerce firm by selling their stake to Walmart.
Walmart-owned Flipkart on Thursday said the company is in compliance with Indian laws, including FDI regulations, and will cooperate with the Enforcement Directorate on the notice sent to the e-commerce major. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a show cause notice of Rs 10,600 crore to Flipkart and its promoters for alleged violation of the foreign exchange law, official sources said on Thursday. When contacted, Flipkart said it is in compliance with Indian laws and regulations, including FDI regulations.
Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal on Friday took pot shots at Snapdeal saying India should not be blamed for the latter's failure to hire "great engineers".
Becoming a unicorn is surely a marker for a company in its growth story, but it's not a major achievement nor is it a turning point of any significant worth.
In 2018, venture debt providers cumulatively deployed Rs 1,300 crore. This year, the market is expected to absorb venture debt of Rs 1,800 crore to Rs 2,000 crore. So what makes this asset class so attractive?
The Bansals losing out operational control of Flipkart comes at a time when global rival Amazon, in which Tiger Global holds a minority stake, is stepping up investment in India in an attempt to overtake the Bengaluru-based e-commerce firm.
Terming Rajan as "India's prescient banker," Time said he is among a rare breed of "economic seers".
Flipkart co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who were ranked 86th last year dropped out of the list
The identity of the new investor could not be ascertained.
Sachin Bansal, who had co-founded Flipkart with Binny Bansal in 2007, would exit the company
Five founders of e-commerce start-ups, four of them Bansals, say they had alternative ambitions chalked out.
Also on Flipkart's to-do list is getting people from the Silicon Valley on its rolls.
Out of the 214 Young Global Leaders who were honoured for leadership and service to society, 109 are women.
Flipkart, the poster boy of Indian e-commerce, hit a new high by raising $1 billion (about Rs 6,000 crore) in the latest funding round, led by existing investors Tiger Global Management and Naspers.
Ola was supposed to expand to the Netherlands, Kenya, Dubai, Israel, and Brazil.
After all, talk of Amazon buying into Flipkart has been doing the rounds for long, although the two Bansals have denied it many times before.
If Sachin Bansal sells his stake at a little over 5 per cent and steps down from Flipkart, as reports have suggested recently, either Binny Bansal or Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart, could be an option for the leadership position.
After raising $2.5 billion from SoftBank's Masayoshi Son and his Vision Fund, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are back in the driving seat at Flipkart, the company they founded over a decade ago.
Flipkart aims to double the total value of goods it sells to $8 billion in the next three years.
According to experts, the company might be trying to ape Amazon, the largest e-commerce player in the world.
Walmart is likely to buy stakes of multiple Flipkart investors, including that of Tiger Global Management and Softbank to end up with a significant majority holding
Flipkart, Jabong-Myntra and PhonePe will operate under this group structure and their CEOs will report to Binny
In an email to customers they say 'Big Billion Day' sale today to eclipse all other multi-day festive sales.
Modi will get the maximum chunk of the session time.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances