New UAE businesses eye Bur Dubai, Deira

dubai – Old Dubai areas – Bur Dubai and Deira – still dominate the interest of new businessmen starting their venture in the emirate. Smong 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).

— waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com