Kerala's State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has entered into a new arrangement for rupee drawing facility with Kuwait's Al Mulla International Exchange Company in order to attract non-resident Keralites.

Through this, Keralites in Kuwait can make remittances to 400 designated branches of SBT all over India through the Al Mulla International Exchange Company.

The Exchange Company has commenced the new drawing arrangement from July 4. This is in addition to the Speed Remittance Arrangement already in operation, said an SBT release Monday.

The SBT has existing rupee drawing arrangements with 16 exchange houses in the other Gulf countries and six others in Kuwait. This is the second consecutive arrangement this year by the SBT with Kuwait-based companies.

The SBT, at its last board meeting, had announced it would step up activities in the Gulf after witnessing a minor fall in the non-resident external (NRE) deposit.

The NRE deposit for the first time fell from Rs.73 billion in 2003-04 to Rs.72 billion in 2004-05.

The fall in NRE deposits has come at a time when the total deposits of the bank grew by an impressive 22.37 percent to touch Rs.241 billion, up from Rs.197 billion for 2003-04.

Informed sources say the bank is expected to shortly shore up its operations by opening a new exchange office in Bahrain and to have two new representative offices in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.