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Indian banks and financial services companies are once again making their presence felt at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). According to a Gulf News report, momentum has picked up over the last two years. The report claims that there are a dozen Indian institutions ranging from banks, asset management companies and financial advisory services that are operating from the DIFC. According to DIFC officials, this is just a beginning and they expect more Indian firms to join the DIFC in the near future. They further said that recent proactive steps like the seminar organized by the DIFC — ‘The India-UAE Partnership: Investments, Opportunities and Synergies' — last October, have helped to improve the awareness of the DIFC in the Indian banking and financial services community. "The UAE market consists of a large number of India based corporates and firms managed by Indian professionals. Lots of companies for whom the Indian banks provide credit facilities in India have already started operations in the UAE or are about to start. For all these companies, Indian banks would be the obvious choice," the paper quoted A.J. Vidyasagar, CEO of SBI in the DIFC, as saying. For most Indian banks, the DIFC presence is their first step towards wider regional expansion. "It is a strategic hub to tap opportunities in the region. Our DIFC branch will serve as a base for targeting the entire Middle East and Africa region," said K.R. Kamath, Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank.

Indian banks, financial service firms using Dubai as base for regional expansion