Gandhinagar

IDBI Bank has become the first public sector bank to open its IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at India’s first and only International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT city).

Private sector bank Kotak Mahindra Bank had also started its IBU at the GIFT city recently. prior to that three other private sector banks were running similar operations there.

Now in all, five banks are operating IBU at the GIFT city.

The inauguration of the IDBI Bank IBU took place in GIFT IFSC in the presence of Mr. Kishore Kharat, MD & CEO of IDBI Bank, Mr. Sudhir Mankad, Chairman of GIFTCL, Mr. Maheswar Sahu, Chairman of GIFT SEZ, Mr. Jayant Kumar Dash, Regional Director of RBI and Mr. Ajay Pandey, MD & Group CEO of GIFTCL.

Mr. Kharat on the occasion said, “As part of IDBI Bank’s strategy to encash on emerging global opportunities, we have set up our IFSC Banking Unit at GIFT IFSC and we are confident that it will significantly enhance our global financing business. IDBI Bank’s GIFT branch will provide full range of corporate banking services and will meet foreign currency funding needs of its vast Indian clientele. Through its GIFT branch IDBI Bank aims to foster greater trade and cross border transactions between India and rest of the world.”

The IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) allows IDBI Bank to deliver a complete range of products to its clients with foreign currency funding requirements. IBU can actively offer products such as external commercial borrowings to its customers. IBU will also be able to meet the funding requirements of overseas entities which may be joint ventures or subsidiaries of its domestic clients or part of the value chain of its existing customers. Presently IDBI Bank has presence at DIFC, Dubai which is catering to foreign currency and trade related requirements of corporate clients. This is further complemented by opening of IBU at GIFT City.

Mr. Pandey, MD & Group CEO of GIFT Company Ltd. said, “In a major milestone for us, IDBI Bank has become the first PSU bank to open its IBU at GIFT IFSC. We expect some more PSU banks to begin their IBU operations soon. Four private sector banks have already begun operations at our IFSC. It is estimated that even under conservative estimates, around $50 billion worth of international business is conducted outside of India in the absence of an IFSC in India. We are confident that at the pace at which we are progressing today, in the next few years, the global financial hub coming up at GIFT City will be able to retain a lot of this business which is now going out.”

– DeshGujarat