(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)Central banks of both the countries have completed the necessary work and waiting for a green signal from New Delhi MCB Bank chairman Mian Mohammad Mansha told Khaleej Times.
Dubai – It’s going to be a historic moment in Indo-Pak relations when banks of both sides of the border will open their branches in each other’s country soon according to a senior banker.
Central banks of both the countries have completed the necessary work and waiting for a green signal from New Delhi MCB Bank chairman Mian Mohammad Mansha told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of an event in Dubai. India and Pakistan will allow three banks to set up branches on each other’s soil to normalise trade relations.In 2012 the two Indian banks allowed to operate in Pakistan were the State Bank of India and Bank of India. On Pakistan part the state-owned National Bank of Pakistan and privately owned United Bank Ltd were selected for running full banking operations in India once they obtained licences.“Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has more or less processed our ap-plication. I have also met Finance Minister Arun Jaitely and he is very positive on it” MCB Bank chairman informed. “When our government gave two names — NBP and UBL — to Indian government business community in India asked for MCB Bank” the chairman claimed. The bank has historic relations with India as it was incorporated in Calcutta in 1947. The bank’s headquarters is now lo-cated in Lahore. “We had more than 65 per cent of our trade flows with India be-fore 1965” he said. Citing the examples of Euro bloc and Asean he said so many countries are doing trade with their neighbours. Why not India and Pakistan? “We will have three branches Mumbai New Delhi and it will be first foreign bank if gets per-mission in Amritsar” Mansha informed. “I think now it’s a little bit stuck on the political side. Hopefully we get on track and it will be done soon. Sometimes politics take over economic things. We should have trade relation-ship that can take the shocks” he explained. Recently Pakistan and India have been involved in a war of words with leaders from both sides exchanging sharp comments after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s critical remarks about Pakistan during his Dhaka visit and in the wake of India’s military action in Myanmar. Last month Prime Minister Modi had called up his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to greet him on the holy month of Ramadan.Critics say the most favoured nation (MFN) status by Pakistan to India is one of the hurdles. New Delhi gave the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996. Pakistan was supposed to accord MFN status to India in 2012 but it didn’t. “Actually the cabinet of the Government of Pakistan in principal agreed that India is a business partner. There are some technicalities and after those are resolved then its will take the final shape” Pakistan’s former commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim told Khaleej Times in May 2012 in Dubai.
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