Indians, Pakistanis top nationalities starting new businesses in Dubai

The UAE has the largest number of Indian migrants at 3.31 million and 1.3 million Pakistanis

Old Dubai areas - Bur Dubai and Deira - still dominate the interest of new businessmen starting their venture in the emirate. Among the nationalities, most of the new businesses were started by the Indians, Pakistanis and Egyptians last year in Dubai, show official figures.
Figures released by Dubai Economy showed that Bur Dubai and Deira topped the list of new licenses issued with a share of 9,032 each, followed by New Dubai (1,753) and Hatta (70).
The figures showed that Saudi, Britons and GCC nationals were the other top nationalities which applied for new business licences with Dubai Economy last year.
Saudis ranked second in terms of market share, followed by Omanis, Kuwaitis and finally Bahrainis in that order. Among the new licenses issued in 2017, 12 per cent went to women," Dubai Economy said in a statement on Sunday.
The UAE has the largest number of Indian migrants, who number 3.31 million while there are 1.3 million Pakistani nationals in the emirate.
There are approximately more than 4.6 million Indian and Pakistani nationals currently working in the UAE. Not just the retail sector, Indian and Pakistani nationals were also among the top investors in the emirate's real estate sector, pumping in Dh20.6 billion in 2017.
In all, the Business Registration & Licensing (BRL) section in Dubai Economy witnessed 288,878 transactions, including 19,877 new licenses, during the entire year.
The new licenses issued in 2017 were distributed across sectors as follows: Commercial (64.3 per cent), Professional (33.8 per cent), Industrial (1.1 per cent) and Tourism (0.9 per cent).
The outsourced service centres of Dubai Economy played a major role in service delivery accounting for almost 80 per cent (231,902) of the BRL transactions in 2017.
Renewal of licenses accounted for 128,965 transactions in 2017 while there were also 26,029 initial approval transactions and 38,223 trade name reservations. Auto renewals constituted 47,125 transactions, instant licenses 684, and e-trader licenses 616.
The top 10 sub-regions that had 51.5 per cent of the new licenses are as follows: Burj Khalifa (12.8 per cent), New Dubai (8.8 per cent), Al Marar (6.9 per cent), Naif (5 per cent), Port Saeed (4.5 per cent), Trade Centre 1 (3.7 per cent), Hor Al Anz East (3 per cent), Al Garhoud (2.4 per cent), Al Barsha (2.3 per cent), Al Karama (2.1 per cent).
According to Dubai Economy, trade and repair services accounted for 33.8 per cent of the economic activities, followed by real estate, leasing and business services (22.4 per cent), building and construction (15.2 per cent), community and personal services (10.8 per cent), hospitality and hotels (6.3 per cent), transport and storage (3.2 per cent), manufacturing (2.9 per cent), financial brokerage (2.2 per cent) and others.
-waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai