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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMUMBAI: Emirates NBD\u2019s Rs 26,015 crore purchase of a 60% stake in RBL Bank marks more than the largest banking cross-border deal; it signals how the India-UAE economic relationship is shifting from trade and remittances towards capital and control. The Dubai-based lender now counts India among its five core strategic markets, alongside the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey.Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, the bank\u2019s vice-chairman and managing director, casts the move as a historical return. When the precursor to Emirates NBD was established in 1963, he noted, it relied heavily on Indian financial linkages. \u201cWe started the financial institution in 1963 with the help of State Bank\u2026 In the 1960s everyone in the region was desperately using Indian rupees. India in the Middle East was a very important country,\u201d he said. Indian enterprise, he added, helped build the Gulf\u2019s commercial foundations: \u201cIndian businessmen\u2026 have started the whole platform of the economy in every GCC country including the UAE.\u201d The acquisition, in his telling, fulfils a long-held ambition \u201cto come back to India to continue our trade and relationship\u201d, now backed by sufficient capital to buy a bank outright.The transaction makes Emirates NBD the promoter of RBL Bank and equips it with a domestic platform in one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing banking markets. For Shayne Nelson, the group\u2019s chief executive officer, the logic is straightforward. \u201cAs a group, Emirates NBD has identified five core strategic markers that will drive our future growth\u2026the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and of course India,\u201d he said, describing India as a uniquely important growth market.Banking on diasporaThe bet rests not only on macroeconomics but also on demography and diaspora. \u201cThere are 4.3 million Indians who call UAE home. They have contributed enormously to our economy, society and our success,\u201d Nelson said, noting that roughly a third of the bank\u2019s UAE customer base is of Indian origin. Economic ties, he added, are deepening rapidly: \u201cBilateral trade has already passed $100 billion, making India UAE\u2019s third largest trading partner and India the UAE\u2019s second largest trading partner.\u201d<\/div>\n