Indian banks have informed the Reserve Bank of India that their loan books in Dubai are insignificant compared to their total turnover. The reports are part of the information that RBI has called for from the banks to evaluate their exposure to Dubai World, the city state’s investment company which has asked for a ?standstill? on debt repayment till May 2010.
The combined exposure of SBI, BOB, and ICICI Bank as per their estimates on Friday stood at less than Rs 7,000 crore. ?Our exposure to the UAE is less than Rs 1,500-crore, which is below 0.3 % of the total loan-book of the bank?, said an official of State Bank of India. The loans to Dubai-based clients is largely in the form of short-term loans, which will be repaid in 3-6 months time, he said. ICICI Bank, also said the bank did not have any significant exposure to Dubai corporates. ?ICICI has no material, non-India linked exposure to Dubai corporates,? its spokesperson said.
Out of the Bank of Baroda?s global loan-book of Rs 1,50,000 crore, that for the UAE region is Rs 10,000 crore. Dubai accounted for half of that at Rs 4,000 crore, said CMD MD Mallya. ?The bank has only a 7-8 % of the total loan-book exposure to the Gulf region. These accounts are well maintained and are unlikely to cause any kind of impact on the balance-sheet,? he said. Bank of Baroda?s total exposure to real estate projects in UAE is even less at Rs 600 crore. Mallya said all the projects are well diversified ones and are performing well.
S Rajendran, general manager and head, international banking, Union Bank of India, said the bank?s office in Abu Dhabi was only meant for liaison and NRI clients services. ?We have got a small exposure of $ 5 million at our Hong Kong branch. But this branch is meant for Indian JVs only,? added Rajendran.
Meanwhile, other PSBs, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of India, too said they have no exposure to the Dubai market.
Other major private sector lenders, Axis Bank and Kotak, also said their exposure to the Gulf region was minimal.