New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) Doha Bank, which is awaiting the nod to open a branch in India, will soon offer e-remittances via a tie-up with State Bank of India, a bank official said here Tuesday.

"We will be signing a memorandum of understanding with State Bank of India (SBI) Thursday and will soon be able to offer e-remittance facility to our customers," R. Seetharaman, deputy CEO of Doha Bank, told reporters here.

Leading a team to showcase the investment opportunities in Qatar, which is looking at potential investments in infrastructure and upscale integration in sectors like oil, gas and steel both within and outside the Middle East, Seetharaman stressed that India Inc should also tap the opportunities.

On its plans to open operations in India, the official said there has been no movement on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) front on the grant of a licence to open full branch operations.

Doha Bank, which has largely Indians at the helm of affairs, is meanwhile looking at providing special services to Indian companies to facilitate bilateral investment and trade.

"We want to provide special services to facilitate investments," said Ganeshan Ramakrishnan, Doha Bank's executive manager (international).

"Through our road shows at the major metros, we want to tell Indian companies about the opportunities opening up in Qatar, which is going to have a lot of surplus funds due to high gas prices. We would like to help facilitate Indian companies in cross-border trade and investment," he said.

The non-resident Indians (NRIs) felt the government should encourage overseas investments by Indian companies by providing special incentives instead of encouraging only inward foreign investments.

They pointed out that in case of Qatar, which has one of the largest gas reserves and is a major supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India, around $180 billion has been earmarked for investments in areas like infrastructure, agriculture, entertainment, oil and gas, power and telecom sectors.

The proposals include plans to set up IT and science and technology parks.

Qatar has indicated interest in investing in India and is currently studying many offers in power, gas and refining sectors.