YES Bank's Gift City unit touches $1 bn in transactions

One of the early movers into the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), YES Bank Limited has done business worth over $1 billion through its International Business Unit (IBU) by the end of financial year 2016-17.

"Just in one and half years after being operational, we have done business of $1 billion in our IBU at the Gift City. We had revised our targets in October last year as the bank has received tremendous response from our customers in India and abroad," said Manish Vora, chief executive officer of the GIFT IFSC Banking Unit of YES Bank.

YES Bank was the first bank which began operations at the IFSC in October 2015. The bank had revised its business target in October 2016, after achieving $650 million in business, and set a target of $1 billion for the FY 2016-17.

Vora said, "Out of $1 billion, nearly 25 per cent transactions have been made from India and about 75 per cent of the business has come from overseas —mainly from Singapore, United States, Mauritius, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom."

Since the inception of the IBU, YES Bank has executed multiple transactions across key sectors, including agriculture and agribusiness, affordable housing, media and entertainment, financial institutions, aviation, ports and logistics, manufacturing and telecom, among others.

Currently, IBUs of State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, YES Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Federal Bank, Indusind Bank and IDBI Bank are operational at IFSC in GIFT City. According to an official familiar with the matter, 14 more banks, which are working for Indian companies from Singapore and Dubai, are in queue are waiting for regulatory approvals to open their IBU at GIFT City.

According to YES Bank, entry of new banks at Gift IFSC will increase competition but the bank is confident that it will maintain 25-30 per cent growth in coming years.

"Competition will definitely rise and every bank has its own strategy to do best in this condition. We are hopeful to maintain a growth rate of 25-30 per cent in the coming times," said Vora, adding, "The IBU has emerged as a significant strategic addition to YES Bank's business model and is helping in further diversification and expansion of cross border asset products. Furthermore, it has helped in widening the scope and depth of our liabilities base."

Rana Kapoor, managing director and chief executive officer of YES Bank, said, "As the first bank to have begun operations at GIFT, we remain committed to further expanding our operations at the IBU and deepen our capabilities as the leading Indian Bank for cross-border trade transactions, external commercial borrowings and foreign currency syndication."