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Bank of Baroda to Launch Friday Remittance Service

DUBAI - Bank of Baroda plans to target blue-collar workers by launching ‘Friday remittance services’ to increase its customer base in the UAE.

Bank of Baroda, India’s only bank which offers retail and commercial services in the UAE, will start this service from June 26.

“Initially we are starting this service from our main branch at Bur Dubai and soon will expand it to other five branches in the UAE,” Ashok Gupta, chief executive for GCC operations at the bank, told Khaleej Times over phone on Tuesday.

“We expect a substantial increase after introducing this service, but the basic idea is that to target those people who cannot come to our branches during working days,” Gupta said.

People can remit money to India when they come for shopping on their weekly off day, otherwise it is difficult for them to come during working days, he said. Bank of Baroda, a century-old India’s international bank, opens daily from 8 am to 8 pm, but for this special Friday service its timing will be from 8 am to 12 pm and then from 2 pm to 6 pm.

“This service is part of our strategy to introduce new services for the convenience of customers,” Gupta said.

The bank recorded 50 per cent increase in remittances from January to May this year compared to the same period in 2008, Gupta said.

“Our growth rate for remittances is higher than the market,” Gupta said adding that “we also recorded a big jump in customer base during the last two years as it increased from 75,000 to 120,000.”

India was the top recipient of remittances in 2008, accounting for $45 billion. China came next with $34 billion followed by Mexico ($26 billion), the Philippines ($18 billion) and Poland ($11 billion), the World Bank said in its revised Migration and Development Brief.

Remittance are an important contributor to the economies of less developed economies. Among the leading customer groups in the UAE and GCC are the South Asian expatriate communities from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. In 2008, remittances worth over $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion) were transferred by the expatriate workers in the UAE to home markets.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that the remittance volume in the UAE, which has 185 foreign exchange houses and branches, is expected to jump by five per cent this year.