Emirates NBD Opens India Branch in Mumbai

Dubai’s biggest bank, Emirates NBD, has opened a branch in Mumbai in an attempt to make its presence known in India. The move shows its increasing interest in the growing Indian economy, rising trade between regions and efforts to diversify outside its home market.

Emirates NBD in Mumbai, which is the bank’s fifth international branch outside the United Arab Emirates, is located at Maker Maxity in Bandra Kurla Complex. It joins the Qatar National Bank, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Doha Bank to open a branch in India in the last two years.

The enterprise invested $100m in capital towards Indian operations, according to the statement released by the lender. The operations will be led by Sharad Agarwal, who has been working for the group for 12 years.

“We are delighted to expand our footprint to India, building on the UAE’s strong historic, cultural and commercial ties with the country,” Shayne Nelson, group CEO of Emirates NBD, said, Gulf Business reported. “India represents an important and strategic growth market. Emirates NBD is the only UAE-based bank with physical presence across all of India’s important trade corridors from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) across to Asia and the United Kingdom and our aim is to be the bank of choice for Indian corporates and individuals looking to invest and do business in the MENA region,” he added.

“History between the UAE and India is deep,” he was quoted as saying in the Economic Times. “It is India’s third largest trading partner with $38 billion. The size of the population and economic growth here make it an attractive market for us. Also, European banks are shrinking, generating returns below their cost of capital. Gulf banks do not have the same issue. My bank’s capital adequacy is 21 per cent. We are in fact looking for more branches in India.”

The lender will offer services to corporate, SME and institutional clients, including trade finance, treasury services, bilateral and syndicated loans. The branch will also support NRI customers looking for cross-border wealth management solutions.

Indians are the largest expatriate community in the UAE, and make up a third of Emirates NBD’s customer base. According to the statement, DirectRemit, the 60-second online funds transfer service to India, has helped facilitate nearly a billion dirhams of NRI remittance flows this year.

Emirates NBD also gives its NRI clients personal loans against NRE fixed deposits in its Indian partner banks. The bank has a NRI private banking division and its London branch has a dedicated NRI desk.

The bank also entered into a partnership with India’s ICICI bank on a project to use blockchain technology for global remittances and trade finance.