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Axis Bank opens representative office in Sharjah

Axis Bank on Sunday opened a representative office in Sharjah, to better serve its customers in the emirate and to expand its retail offerings to customers in the neighbouring northern emirates.
Shri Vipul, consul general of India in Dubai, inaugurated the representative office, which is the third such Axis Bank office in the UAE after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The new office will not only service the non-resident Indian (NRI) community in the emirate, but will also help effectively service customers in the other emirates of Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah.
Rajiv Anand, executive director of retail banking at Axis Bank, told Khaleej Times after the inauguration that the demand for instant personal banking services, especially remittances, had been increasing in recent years. "Globally, we saw a dip in remittances in the past few years, but there has been a pick up recently."
Raj Kishore Prasad, head of the GCC region at Axis Bank, further noted that the bank expects a 5-6 per cent increase in remittances, in line with global trends. "We witnessed a drop of 7-8 per cent in remittances a few years ago, but we are now optimistic about the outlook as oil prices are stabalising. The remittances market size between the UAE and India is about $12 billion, and Axis Bank has a market share of about 20 per cent. To make the process of remitting money to India faster and more efficient, we have also tied up with 31 banks and exchange houses in the UAE."
Asked if the recent introduction of the value added tax (VAT) would have any effect on remittances, Prasad answered in the negative. "The VAT is a tax that people in the UAE will gradually get used to; we don't expect it to affect the remittance market. Further depreciations in the Indian rupee will also help boost remittances in the UAE-India corridor."
The UAE has the largest NRI community in the world, with a diverse population base of approximately 3.3 million NRIs. As per estimates, approximately 0.65 million NRIs reside in the emirate of Sharjah.
"The opening of the representative office in Sharjah will further extend our presence in the UAE, and provide clients easier access to the bank's services in the region. The representative offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and now Sharjah, will complement the services being offered to NRI clients by the DIFC branch in Dubai," Anand noted.
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com