Dubai, UAE: Emirates NBD has opened two new full-service branches in India, backed by an investment of $300 million.
The opening of the branches—in Gurugram (National Capital Region) and Chennai—demonstrates the Group’s commitment to India as a key growth market against the backdrop of strong bilateral ties between the two countries, the bank said in a statement.
Emirates NBD is the only UAE-based bank with strong branch presence in India. In 2017, the bank inaugurated its first full-fledged branch in India’s commercial centre, Mumbai, marking the sixth country where Emirates NBD has in-shore presence after UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Singapore, and the United Kingdom in addition to Turkey, Austria, Germany via its 2019 acquisition of DenizBank.
The statement said Indians constitute the largest expatriate community in UAE and a third of Emirates NBD’s customer base are Indian expatriates. Emirates NBD is a significant player in the UAE-India remittance corridor.
The bank’s 60-second zero-fee digital funds transfer service to India, DirectRemit, has facilitated 2.5 million remittances to India worth nearly $2 billion in 2022.
Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Emirates NBD Group commented, “Our international network is of unique advantage to Indian companies and businesses, as we are the only bank in the region with a strong regional presence in markets that India shares important trade and investment ties with.”
Shayne Nelson, Group CEO of Emirates NBD said, “Following on from the success of our first branch, we are delighted to offer Indian businesses a full range of banking services including trade finance, treasury services, and bilateral and syndicated loans in addition to supporting NRI (non-resident Indian) customers.”
“Our new strategically located branches will offer improved geographical coverage, allowing us to cater to both the northern and southern markets of India, thus enabling ease of banking including smoother trade financing and fund and non-fund-based facilities for customers,” he said.
