Lulu Financial welcomes closer India ties

Managing director wants engagement across continents

The UAE’s relationship with India is moving to a new level and this week’s visit by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, is an important affirmation of how close the two countries are becoming, Adeeb Ahamad, Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Financial Group, told Gulf News in Davos.

Ahamad welcomed India’s renewed interest in seeking better relations with its neighbours. “The Middle East and India have been linked for more Adeeb Ahamad, Managing Director of the Abu Dhabi-based Lulu Financial Group has run the company for nine years, and has set up new divisions within the Lulu Group such as Tablez (brand retailing) and Twenty 14 Holdings (hospitality). His own story is one of globalisation: born in India, he studied in the hospitality industry in Switzerland and London, later moving to work in major hotels in London and Milan before settling in Abu Dhabi.

At the World Economic Forum he takes keen interest in meeting people with new ideas and encouraging engagement with local and global leaders across continents, so as to tackle some of the pressing global matters and create impactful change at the grass roots level. than 2,000 years, but for the last decade the economic relationship was not given much priority,” he said. “Under the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has taken a lead in reaching out to its friends.”

Ahamad speaks with the extra knowledge gained from being a member of the World Economic Forum’s new South Asia Regional Strategy Group, which has been formulated to provide strategic guidance on the Forum’s regional agenda.

“I believe that through the newly created board, we would be able to bring about changes on the ground in key areas across the region and also initiate greater private and public cooperation that enhances community development,” he said.

Commenting on India’s recent decision to demonetise Rs500 and Rs1,000 banknotes, Ahamad welcomed the move and noted that it had been widely supported in India. “The people supported it because it was done with the people’s interests at heart as well as to reduce corruption and black money,” he said.

“Remittances did not drop, because people still need to help their families,” said Ahamad, who speaks with some insight since the group’s Lulu Exchange runs a network of more than 130 branches in nine countries. “But we are still waiting for an answer about what to do with the Indian banknotes that are outside the country.”