Non resident Indians in Doha will now be able to enjoy the services of the ICICI Bank, as it prepares to start its operations from the Qatar Financial Centre. ICICI Bank, India's second largest bank and holding assets worth $79 billion, offers a range of banking services for non resident Indians.

With Qatar's economy going bullish, ICICI plans to strengthen its presence in the GCC region. The Dubai and Bahrain offices in the region have been operational since 2003 and 2004 respectively.

ICICI has a host of products for NRIs based in Bahrain, which also acts as a channel for NRI equity investment in India

The bank currently operates from 17 countries which include three wholly owned subsidiaries in the U K, Russia and Canada, offshore banking units in Singapore and Bahrain, an advisory branch in Dubai, branch offices in Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Belgium and representative offices in the United States, China, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

During 2006-2007, a 45% growth was recorded by ICICI Bank in NRI remittance to India, holding 28% of the NRI market share.

An inexpensive online remittance facility offered by the bank is its USP, as is the access to its online network. The bank is on an aggressive growth path, and is expected to expand to the rest of the Middle East and North Africa.