QNB, a commercial bank owned by the Qatar Investment Authority, has become the first bank from the Middle East and Africa region to establish a branch in GIFT City, Gujarat, India's international financial centre and special economic zone.

With the opening of this new branch, QNB will expand its presence in India, enabling it to offer a wide range of products. The location will support both onshore and offshore customers with their foreign currency funding requirements. It will function as a Scheduled Commercial Bank, delivering a full range of banking services across India.

"India's banking sector is poised for rapid growth on the strength of robust economic growth prospects, and banks have demonstrated strong operational performance along with improving asset quality," Abdullah Mubarak Al Khalifa, QNB Group CEO said. "With the opening of the GIFT City branch, QNB is expanding its footprint at an opportune time when Indian corporates are seeking strong banking partners for supporting their growth plans."

Al Khalifa added that the Indian market presents "long term growth opportunities for wholesale banking."

Ali Darwish, QNB Group's senior executive vice president of international business, said India is "on track to become a major global supply chain and manufacturing hub." He highlighted that India's foreign exchange reserves are amongst the largest in the world, exceeding $650b.

"With the new branch in GIFT, GNB has enhanced its product suite with a multi-currency proposition. The GIFT branch will strengthen QNB's extensive regional and international network with 28 markets across 3 continents," he added.

QNB opened its first branch in India in 2017, rapidly expanding to meet the international banking needs of Indian corporate and institutional clients.