Indian banks exposure up to Rs6,500 crore in Dubai

Amid the debt repayment crisis in Dubai, Indian banks today said that they have an exposure of Rs5,000-6,500 crore in the Middle East city, but the bankers are not worried and said the development may not have major impact on their balance sheets.

Even as RBI governor D Subbarao asked officials to make an assessment of fallout of the crisis triggered by $59 billion debt on the Middle East's largest realty firm Dubai World for making necessary recommendations, banks including SBI and Bank of baroda said their accounts in the region are well maintained.

Bank of Baroda, the largest Indian lender in the United Arab Emirates, said it has an exposure of Rs5,000 crore in Dubai. The country's largest lender State Bank of India has an exposure of around Rs1,500 crore in United Arab Emirates, including Dubai.

"We have only a 7-8% of our total loan-book in the entire Gulf region, which amounts to Rs10,000-crore. These accounts are well maintained and is unlikely to cause any kind of impact on the balance-sheet," Bank of Baroda CMD M D Mallya said.

Out of the total Gulf loan exposure, Dubai constitutes nearly half to the loan book which comes to less than Rs5,000-crore, Mallya said.

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