Good news for the Indian expatriates! The largest banking group in the Middle East, known as Emirates NBD has received initial approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to establish a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) in India.
As Reuters reported, the Dubai-based bank can transform its Mumbai, Gurugram, and Chennai branches into a domestic Indian banking entity through this move, which grants it full domestic banking capabilities.
The RBI’s approval represents a major advancement for Emirates NBD’s expansion plans in India, which the bank identifies as a vital market. The bank has been expanding its operations in India since 2017, when it established its first full-service branch in Mumbai, followed by the opening of Gurugram and Chennai locations.
The bank’s expansion plan supports the growing economic relationship between the UAE and India, which gained momentum through the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between these nations. The bank works to enhance economic relations between India and the MENAT region and between the two countries and the broader Middle East and North Africa and Turkey.
Emirates NBD has demonstrated its dedication to expanding its Indian banking operations by expressing interest in acquiring control of the state-run IDBI Bank.
The customer base of Emirates NBD exceeds one-third with Indian expatriates who enable the bank to process millions of annual transactions through its DirectRemit service while supporting the UAE-India remittance corridor.
Also read: This move also aligns with Dubai’s broader vision to digitize its financial ecosystem, as outlined in its Cashless Strategy 2025, which aims to transition the emirate into a fully digital economy.
[…] UAE’s Emirates NBD Bank to open new branches in India […]