Dubai bank Emirates NBD begins operations in India

The Mumbai branch, marks the bank's fifth international branch outside of its UAE network.

The branch will offer a range of services to corporate, SME and institutional clients including trade finance, treasury services, bilateral and syndicated loans in addition to supporting NRI (non-resident Indian) customers looking for cross-border wealth management solutions.

The bank plans to invest USD 100 million capital into its Indian operations, Emirates NBD said.

"We are delighted to expand our footprint to India, building on the UAE's strong historic, cultural and commercial ties with the country. As a key trading partner of the UAE and as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India represents an important and strategic growth market," Shayne Nelson, Group CEO of Emirates NBD said.

"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 (UK) 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," Nelson said.

Indians constitute the largest expatriate community in the UAE and a third of Emirates NBD's customer base is from India.

The bank's 60 second online funds transfer service to India, DirectRemit, has facilitated nearly a billion dirhams of NRI remittance flows this year, the company said.

The bank has presence across all of India's key trade corridors from the Middle East and North Africa (UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia) across to Asia (Singapore, China and Indonesia) and the UK (London).