MUMBAI, April 7 (Xinhua) -- India's central bank on Thursday released guidelines permitting scheduled commercial lenders with past digital banking experience to open digital banking units (DBU) in Tier 1-6 cities without the need to take permission.

       The guidelines followed an announcement made by Indian finance minister in the federal budget speech in February to set up 75 DBUs in 75 districts of the country to commemorate 75 years of India's independence this year.

       "Digital banking products and services would generally mean those financial products/services whose designs and fulfilments have nearly end-to-end digital life cycle with the initial customer acquisition/product delivery necessarily taking place digitally through self-service or assisted self-service," said a statement from the Reserve Bank of India.

       A DBU will be a specialized fixed hub housing certain minimum digital infrastructure for delivering digital banking products and services with the objective of ensuring financial inclusion.

       As per the norms, lenders are free to adopt an in-sourced or out-sourced model for operations of the digital banking segment including DBUs.

       Each DBU shall be housed distinctly with separate entry and exit provisions. These units will be separate from existing outlets or branches of the lender with formats and designs most appropriate for digital banking users, the guidelines said.