By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala’s State Bank of Travancore (SBT) is to open a representative office in Dubai in three months’ time, according to a company official.
This would offer personalized services to the non-resident Indians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who maintain accounts with the bank, SBT managing dierctor M. Ramaswamy told reporters Wednesday night.
“This would be a link between them and their home state and will facilitate further increase in inward remittances,” he said.
“The ‘NRI Care’ Health Insurance Scheme introduced by the bank in association with the United India Insurance Company was modified to make it more attractive to NRI clients, covering both personal accident cover and hospitalisation cover,” he said.
SBT’s strong operations in the Middle East include ‘Rupee Drawing Arrangements’ with 21 Exchange Companies in the region.
The bank also has Speed Remittance Facility with Exchange Companies in the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
The last fiscal saw a drop in the SBT non-resident Indian deposit to Rs.8.4 billion from Rs.8.6 billion in 2006-07.
A study of the Centre for Development Studies in 2007 showed that 36.80 percent of the total remittances to Kerala through normal channels were through SBT.
Ramaswamy said the bank posted a higher net profit of Rs.3.8 billion for the last fiscal against Rs.3.26 billion during the year 2006-07.