Doha, April 26 : Expatriate Indians can now make express remittances to India without paying any fees or commissions and avail of a full range of banking services back home, thanks to an agreement signed between the International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) and the private sector HDFC Bank, India.

To avail of this facility, non -resident Indians (NRIs) will have to open a bank account at the IBQ, which will in turn, also open an account at any one of the 480 existing branches of the HDFC Bank in India.

Desmond Holmes, General Manager, IBQ, said, his bank has waived the minimum balance requirement for NRIs who wish to open such a corresponding account between his bank and the HDFC Bank.
Remittances to India can currently made only by visiting the IBQ branches or through a standing order issued on the Doha account. Such funds, he said, would be available at the NRI's account at the HDFC Bank within one working day.

He explained, IBQ enjoys a large account holder base of NRIs since the bank functioned under the ANZ-Grindlays Bank and Grindlays-Qatar from 2000 when it was bought over by a leading local investor.

Such NRIs continued to maintain their accounts at IBQ even after it changed its corporate identity in 2003 since it offered them services in India through Grindlays-StanChart.

IBQ, he said, will offer two services to NRIs under this agreement: To open an account with HDFC Bank of the type chosen by a customer who may not have an account at IBQ, and secondly, a joint service under which the NRI opens a salary transfer account at IBQ and a NRI account at HDFC Bank.

Anil Kumar, Vice President and Head of NRI Business at the HDFC Bank said, the bank currently has some 480 branches in all major cities in the country and in interior areas. This year itself, the bank plans to add an extra 200 branches, including some in the southern Indian state, Kerala, from where a large number of NRIs in the GCC come from.

NRIs holding accounts with IBQ and the HDFC Bank will be issued an ATM card of the Visa-Electron brand, which, the beneficiary of the remittances can use to withdraw cash. The bank does not levy any service charges on withdrawals made from its own ATMs, though such a fee may be applicable on transactions from machines of other banks.

An Internet-based remittance facility that will allow NRIs to transfer funds from their IBQ account here to the one in HDFC Bank, India, will soon be offered, he added.

He assured, HDFC Bank would not levy any hidden charges on customers.

Through IBQ, expatriate Indians can also open a D-Mat account with the HDFC Bank to for trading of Indian stocks.

Services include accounts for online trading on the Indian stock market, investment options and mutual fund investment products, Amit Kumar said.
Other services that would be attractive to NRIs in Qatar will be introduced by the HDFC Bank and IBQ in coming months, he added.

Meanwhile, IBQ and the HDFC Bank jointly hosted a reception yesterday to announce their tie-up for the Indian community in Qatar.

The Indian ambassador to Qatar, Ranjan Mathai gave a speech on the occasion while officials from the HDFC Bank made a presentation on the range of their products.