Doha Bank plans to increase exposure in Indian market

Doha Bank today said it is looking at growing its exposure in the Indian market from USD 2.4 billion to USD 5 billion in next two or three years in sectors including service and infrastructure.
"The bank is looking at growing its exposure in the Indian market from USD 2.4 billion to USD 5 billion in two to three years time, mostly in real estate, manufacturing, infrastructure and service sector," the Bank CEO R Seetharaman told reporters here.
Seetharaman said more viable opportunities to explore the two-way relationship in the areas of trade, investment and banking between two countries are slated to open up because the Indian economy is expected to grow 7.5 per cent in the current fiscal year.

"The Indian economy is expected to grow 7.5 per cent in the current fiscal and hence, more viable opportunities to explore the two-way relationship in the areas of trade, investment and banking between the two blocs are slated to open up," he said.
He said Indian economy is on a fast track and hence the bilateral trade and investments between India and GCC are also expected to surge in future.
"Doha Bank would like to provide a glimpse on these trends and looks forward to building synergies based on the cross-border relationships between India and GCC for the benefit of both blocs," he said.

India bilateral trade is above USD 130 billion in recent times, of which Qatar and India's bilateral trade is estimated to be around USD 16 billion. Qatar economy was expected to grow by more than seven per cent in 2015 and is gearing up to host the 2022 FIFA football event. "Qatar is the first among the GCC countries to host the event," he said.

Consequent to this, he said, the country is witnessing an enormous amount of infrastructural development with airports, seaports, metro projects, road development, malls and a number of hotels seeing a steady take off. Many civil projects are in the offing which will provide opportunities for Indian companies to invest in and participate, he said.

Seetharaman said Qatar and other GCC economies are involved in non-hydro carbon diversification which will give immense opportunities to Indian corporates to explore infrastructure development in the region.
He said Bengaluru is India's information technology hub with offshoring and growing IT exports driving the sector. "India's focus on analytics, digitisation and technology-backed banking opens up avenues of cooperation," he said.