The UAE Exchange Centre and the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) in India have joined hands to provide a swift money transaction facility to non-resident Indians (NRIs) living in the UAE.

Through this draft drawing arrangement, NRIs will be able to send remittances home from the 10 branches of the UAE Exchange Centre to around 150 branches of the OBC which are mainly concentrated in the northern and central parts of India.

Announcing the arrangements here yesterday, B.D. Narang, chairman and managing director of the OBC, said that the service would be operational from January 10, 2002.

"It is the first time the OBC has entered into such an agreement with a financial institution in the Gulf region," said Narang.

Some 200,000 NRIs in the Gulf have accounts with the bank, he noted.

Based in New Delhi, the OBC has 1,000 branches across the country most of them in northern and central India.

He said the arrangement between the OBC and UAE Exchange Centre would benefit NRIs mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Using this facility, people will be able to send money to their homes within 72 hours. The bank will also ensure that the beneficiary is notified soon after receiving the transaction.

Narang said that the OBC is one of the most profitable banks in India, and has a huge clientele base of small and medium depositors.

Last year, the bank made a net profit of Rs. 210 crore, and this is expected to rise by 60 per cent in the current financial year.

"The bank is diversifying in to the Western and Southern parts of India and almost 80 per cent of its branches are computerised. It has the lowest non-performing assets among the banks operating in the country and also has the highest productivity ratio per employee," he said.

B. R. Shetty, Managing Director of New Medical Centre (NMC) Group, said that the UAE Exchange Centre had offered many fast track transaction services to expatriate communities living in the UAE in different parts of the world.

In India, the UAE Exchange has some 62 operations, including 28 in the state of Kerala. The exchange house has permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open 104 branches, he added.