Dubai FDI Builds on Growing Ties to Woo Investors from India

Dubai Investment Development Agency (Dubai FDI), an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED), recently went on a tour of three Indian cities as part of attracting investors and businesses from strategic markets to base out of Dubai and achieve faster growth and expansion.

The roadshow covered Mumbai, the financial hub of India, as well as Hyderabad and Kochi, leading commercial and information technology hubs in the south of the country. The Mumbai event was hosted with the support of Morison Menon and the south Indian events along with Musthafa & Almana, both firms Dubai FDI’s institutional partners.

Capitalising on Dubai’s initiatives to reinforce its position as a competitive hub for investors and enterprises across the services and technology sectors, Dubai FDI reached out to solutions providers in diverse domains, including logistics, aviation, biotechnology, engineering, construction, financial services, industrial machinery, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, tourism and hospitality in the three Indian cities.

Ibrahim Ahli, Director of Investment Promotion in Dubai FDI, presented the advantages of Dubai in enabling successful business startup and sustainable growth across a series of seminars and B2B meetings. "There hasn’t been a better time for bilateral engagement between Dubai and India. UAE-India relations are on a faster and stronger track, and leaders on both sides are determined to make their partnership a game-changer in global trade.

In India we were able to connect with our audiences and engage them in identifying areas where Dubai can place them on the forefront of emerging industries and technologies," Ahli said.

India has consistently been the among the top five bilateral trade partners of Dubai and a major source of FDI into Dubai. For the last three years India has been the second largest investor in Dubai and Indians are among the top five nationalities of property owners in the emirate.

By 2020, UAE-India trade is estimated to hit US$100 billion and Dubai’s industrial, residential, tourism and entertainment sectors, along with existing airports as well as sea ports, will play a major role in achieving the milestone. Of the AED 37.8 billion FDI that the UAE attracted in 2017, AED 27.3 billion flowed into Dubai.

Ahli said major areas where UAE-bound FDI landed in 2017 included manufacturing, renewable energy, aviation, travel and tourism, logistics, technology and healthcare. India has the necessary skills set and resources in smart technologies and industries, which they can develop and expand out of Dubai to add jobs and achieve growth in their country, he added.

"Indians and their enterprises are a significant component of the Dubai community and the emirate’s airports and seaports provide the most competitive transit point for cargo and passengers travelling to and out of India. We have 1,600 flights a week between Dubai and India, and in 2017, 1.2 million Indian tourists stayed across hotels and hotel apartments in Dubai," Ahli said.