Scared NRIs find Indian banks safer

Ahmedabad: Anand Patel, a hotelier in New Jersey who hails from Nadiad, has just called up his brother Dilip to find out more about NRI deposits in Indian banks. Anand told him he wanted to send him $1,00,000 for safe keeping, because he was worried about the turmoil in the US finnancial markets. Many others have already made the move, much to the delight of public sector banks. Far from getting hit by the turmoil in the US fmancial markets, the collapse of American banking has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Indian banks, now being seen by NRIs as a safe place to park their funds. In recent weeks, many US-based NRIs have switch their funds from US based entities to Indian banks by way of NRI deposits. For instance, SBI in Gujarat, which had mopped up NRI deposits worth Rs 290 crore in the last five months, has collected over Rs 150 crore in September alone. "The spurt can be mainly attributed to the fmancial crisis in the US markets," said He Pattnaik, chief general manager, SBI- Gujarat. The depreciation of rupee and rising rate of interest for fixed deposits in foreign currency have made NRI deposits attractive, Pattnaik added.