IDBI Bank’s Dubai book size exceeds $4b

Dubai: IDBI Bank opened its office in Dubai in 2009. The bank has a Category 1 banking licence to operate from the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). It began with financing Indian firms that are already their clients and eventually extended financing activities to companies irrespective of their ownership or country of origin.

“We are present in the UAE as a wholesale bank. We set up our DIFC operations when the economy was going through a difficult phase. But we were confident of a rebound which is happening now. In this short period our book size has grown in excess of $4 billion,” said M S Raghavan, chairman and managing director of IDBI Bank.

The bank intends to expand its financing activity in the UAE and the region as the regional economies recover. “The DIFC operations are our first overseas venture. We have applied for licences in Hong Kong and Singapore. Apart from financing activities, we will also look at fund raising opportunities in the region,” he said.