RBI to ask banks to furnish exposure details in Dubai World

November 27, 2009 10:39 pm | Updated December 17, 2016 05:27 am IST - AHMEDABAD

The Reserve Bank of India will ask banks to furnish details regarding their exposure in Dubai World, a government-owned firm that had requested postponement of $59 billion loan repayment, said RBI Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath here on Friday.

At a function here, she said “we will ask banks to furnish details regarding their exposure in Dubai World,” adding, “at present, I do not also have much information on the issue because the situation is still unfolding.”

On measures the apex bank is contemplating, she said, “we first need to understand the extent of the exposure of our banks. Once we have the details, we can comment.”

Banks’ exposure

Banks on Friday said they had an exposure of Rs. 5,000-6,500 crore in the Middle East city, and said the debt repayment crisis in Dubai might not have major impact on their balance sheets.

Banks including SBI and Bank of Baroda said their accounts in the region were well maintained.

Bank of Baorda, the largest Indian lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said it had an exposure of Rs. 5,000 crore in Dubai.

State Bank of India had an exposure of around Rs. 1,500 crore in the UAE, including Dubai.

“We have only a 7-8 per cent of our total loan-book in the entire Gulf region, which amounts to Rs. 10,000-crore. These accounts are well maintained and is unlikely to cause any kind of impact on the balance-sheet,” Bank of Baroda Chairman and Managing Director M. D. Mallya said.

Out of the total Gulf loan exposure, Dubai constituted nearly half to the loan book which comes to less than Rs. 5,000-crore, Mr. Mallya said.

An SBI official said the bank’s loans to Dubai-based clients were on short-term basis and would be paid in three-six months.

Bank of India Executive Director M. Narendra said the bank had no exposure to the region except having a representative office.

Officials from other leading private sector banks like ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank were also of the view that the crisis might not have any major say on their loan-books.

An IDBI Bank official said “we do not have any exposure in Dubai.”

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