DIFC wants to double number of Indian banks it hosts

The DIFC wants to host more than 100 Indian companies by 2024. Sarah Dea / The National

Dubai’s financial hub is in talks to double the number of Indian banks in the free zone as wealth managers target the estimated $55 billion in assets held by the country’s citizens in the UAE.

It is part of a broader plan to increase the presence of Indian companies based there.

The Dubai International Financial Centre is currently home to 10 Indian banks, but is in discussions with a further 10 about moving to the free zone that is home to some of the biggest names in global banking and finance.

The DIFC wants to host more than 100 Indian companies by 2024, according to a statement. Currently, it is home to 20.

“We envisage a key role for Indian banks, insurers, law firms and wealth managers as we seek to expand our services and become a top global financial hub,” said Arif Amiri, deputy chief executive of the DIFC Authority.

The insurer, the New India Assurance Company, and the Bank of India both opted to open new offices in DIFC this year.

Providing wealth management to the UAE’s non-resident Indian (NRI) population is big business for DIFC-based wealth managers.

NRIs account for 30 per cent of the UAE’s population of more than 9 million – meaning that there are more Indian residents of the UAE than there are Emirati citizens.

UAE-based Indians collectively hold about $55 billion in wealth, and have invested around $18bn in the UAE’s real estate industry alone, the DIFC estimates. That is driven by very high saving rates among Indian nationals, who set aside roughly 70 per cent of their income each month to save, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“The personal finance behaviour of the UAE’s non-resident Indians seems to be quite uniform: they are frugal and money-conscious, resisting many of the spending temptations that bedevil some western expatriates, even when they have similar financial resources,” Marcus Gent, regional managing director at Friends Provident International, told The National in January.

Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, visited the UAE in August, where he touted investment projects totalling $1 trillion, according to reports. The “UAE’s power and India’s potential can make the dream of an Asian century a reality”, Mr Modi told investors at the time.

The prime minister has been struggling to spur India’s economy after his election on promises to increase the growth rate. India’s economy expanded by 7 per cent in the second quarter of the year – below the 10-year median growth rate of 8.2 per cent. That came as the country’s August manufacturing figures showed a slight decrease in the rate of growth in the sector.

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