India's Corporation Bank is linking up with Bahrain Finance Company (BFC) to offer financial services to NRIs in the kingdom.

The Corporation Bank chairman and managing director J M Garg yesterday outlined the bank's plans at a Press conference at the InterContinental Regency Bahrain.

He said the bank expected to have up to 2,000 people using the service through the link with BFC this year and scale up in the future.

'The Indian banking system has remained robust in spite of the global downturn and its market remains an attractive investment proposition for people wanting to send money home as well as for workers sending cash back to pay for their families at home,' he said.

'Indian interest rates remain attractive compared with elsewhere for savers and as the economy continues to prosper we can expect the rupee to strengthen against the US dollar.'

He said the bank offered special deposit schemes for NRIs and also could book forward contracts for clients who wanted to hedge balances in rupee deposits. The bank has tie-ups with 10 exchange houses across the Gulf for its speed remittances and DD drawing services.

'With the tie-up with Bahrain Financing Company, NRIs can now send funds to their loved ones in India swiftly and quickly from Bahrain.

BFH general manager George Philip said that they currently worked with 13 Indian banks and were dealing with more than 10,000 drafts a month from their 21 branches.

'This business is growing at the present time so it is a good move to add the Corporation Bank to our partners.'-TradeArabia News Service