Says remittances from UAE surge almost threefold

Abu Dhabi: Bank of Baroda (BoB), India's international bank, has requested the UAE Central Bank to allow the reopening of branches in Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain that were closed in 1987 due to a slowdown in the UAE economy, a senior bank executive said on Sunday.

"The branches were running at a loss for several years in a row and therefore the bank was compelled to close them. But today the market conditions are different. The UAE and India are booming economies and offer plenty of growth opportunities," Ashok Kumar Gupta, BoB's chief executive of GCC Operations, told Gulf News in an interview.

"The reopening of these branches will help boost our presence in the UAE," he said.

Gupta said BoB is currently operating six branches in the UAE - two in Dubai, one in Sharjah, one in Abu Dhabi, one in Al Ain and one in Ras Al Khaimah, besides two electronic banking service units (EBSUs) - one in Jebel Ali and one at Musaffah.

"We have plans to open five more EBSUs and have sought the UAE Central Bank's permission for it," said Gupta.

Gupta said in the 2007-2008 Indian fiscal year that ended on March 31, the foreign exchange remittances to India from BoB's UAE operations witnessed almost a threefold increase from a year earlier.

"Last year, we added 22,000 new customers. We now have around 100,000 customers throughout the UAE," said Gupta.

Gupta said annual remittances to India last year by expatriates worldwide were about $27 billion, of which about 40 per cent came from the GCC.

"The bulk of the GCC remittances to India are from Saudi Arabia and the UAE," he said.

BoB has a significant international presence with a network of 72 offices in 25 countries including 46 branches.

The bank operates in the world's major financial centres - New York, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Brussels and Singapore.

It also has representative offices in Malaysia, China, Thailand and Australia.

BoB is in the process of establishing offices in Canada, New Zealand, Qatar, Russia and Mozambique.

In addition, it plans to have a presence in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The branches were running at a loss for several years in a row and therefore the bank was compelled to close them. But today the market conditions are different. The UAE and India are booming economies and offer plenty of growth opportunities."