Central Bank of India opens first forex hub in Gujarat at Vadodara

Vadodara: The first forex hub of the Mumbai-headquartered Central Bank of India in Gujarat was opened at Urmi Char rasta here to provide prompt and efficient services to importers and exporters.

Ramesh Singh, General Manager, Treasury & International division, Central Bank of India inaugurated this forex hub here yesterday which is fully equipped with necessary infrastructure such as swift facility, fax Internet etc besides trained staff.

Speaking on the occasion, Singh said it is the first forex hub of the bank in Gujarat after opening of a forex hub in Mumbai in August 2014. The bank plans to open a forex hub in Delhi before March 2015 and then march to Kolkata and Chennai later this year. Singh said the bank's import export business stood at Rs 20,000 crore December 31, 2014 and our target is a 50 per cent growth to make it Rs 30,000 crore within next two years before the end of fiscal 2016-17.

At present, Central Bank of India has overseas office at Nairobi, Hong Kong and a joint venture with Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and the Zambian government. Recently, it also opened a representative office at Nairobi, Kenya, he said.

Singh said the bank has posted its officials in Dubai too for meeting the buyers' requirements in Gulf countries adding it has also made arrangements for meeting requirements of exporters and importers in Hongkong.

Opening up several forex hubs at branches across the country will enhance export-import business of the bank which in turn will help the bank to plan openings abroad, he said. The Central Bank of India has approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for permission to open representative offices in Singapore, Dubai, Doha and London.

R N Hirve, Deputy General Manager of the Central Bank of India, said the export hub in Vadodara is aimed at catering to the needs of exporters, importers and Non Resident Indians (NRIs) in Vadodara and Anand covering 100 branches of the bank located in both these districts.

Forex Hub is a one stop solution point for all the forex transactions permitting trade by importers and exporters in Anand and Baroda region of the bank, Hirve said. R N Syandolia, Field General Manager, Gujarat zone of the bank said, "We plan to open 40 more branches of the bank in various parts of gujarat state before end of 2015."

At present, there are 321 branches of the bank in Gujarat. The business of the Gujarat zone of the bank stood at Rs 31,000 crore on December 31, 2014.