Indian Banks Unaffected By Dubai Troubles - Report

Vanessa Doctor

29 November 2009

The Reserve Bank of India has asked local banks to reveal their exposure to Dubai World, which just recently declared a six-month halt on its $59 billion debt, the Business Times of India reports.

Indian banks have among the widest presence in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, led by Bank of Baroda, which has 6 branches in the UAE accounting for 6.6 per cent of its global loan book, followed by ICICI Bank and the State Bank of India, the publication said.

Representatives of the said banks clarified, however, that they have very little exposure to the troubled property developer.

Rupa Rege Nitsura, the chief economist at Bank of Baroda, reportedly said that the bank has zero exposure to Dubai World's realty arm Nakheel, SBI said its exposure was just 0.2 per cent, while ICICI declared no material non-India linked exposure to any Dubai firm.

"Since we have some capital account regulations, the possibility of banks in India having lent to his entity (Dubai World) would be much lower than other countries," Shyamla Gopinath, the RBI deputy governor, was quoted as having said.