NEW DELHI: India’s foreign direct investment into Dubai surged to over $3 billion in 2024, making the South Asian nation its top investor, the latest data shows.
Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism announced earlier this week that the most populous of the UAE’s seven emirates attracted 52.3 billion dirhams ($14.20 billion) in estimated FDI capital in 2024.
India was “the top source country with the highest total estimated FDI capital into Dubai, accounting for 21.5 percent,” the main authority for the planning, supervision and development of Dubai’s business and tourism sectors said in a statement.
The value amounts to about $3.05 billion and was five times higher than in 2023, when India was Dubai’s fifth largest FDI capital contributor.
In 2024, India was followed by the US at 13.7 percent, France with 11 percent, the UK at 10 percent, and Switzerland with 6.9 percent.
India was also the second-largest player in FDI projects to Dubai, accounting for 15 percent of them, preceded only by the UK at 17 percent.
Business leaders saw the surge of Indian investment not only in Dubai but also in the whole UAE as facilitated by a series of bilateral agreements, especially the 2022 UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which has eliminated trade barriers, lowered tariffs, and eased business operations, making it easier for companies in both countries to access each other’s markets.
Adeeb Ahamed, managing director of LuLu Financial Holdings and chair at the Middle East Council of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said it has enabled “remarkable economic collaboration” and allowed Indians “to take full advantage of this favorable (investment) atmosphere.”
In Dubai, business services, software and IT services, consumer products, food and Beverages, and real estate are currently the top sectors representing Indian FDI, according to the FICCI’s data.
“This diversification reflects Indian businesses’ strategic approach to global expansion. The regulatory environment — the 2022 Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and 2024 Bilateral Investment Treaty have significantly reduced barriers, while world-class infrastructure and bilateral agreements have created an ecosystem where Indian enterprises can truly flourish,” FICCI director general Jyoti Vij told Arab News on Wednesday.
“This meteoric rise from the fifth to first position as Dubai’s top FDI source demonstrates our growing global ambitions and capabilities.”
India becomes top source of FDI in Dubai with $3 billion investment
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India becomes top source of FDI in Dubai with $3 billion investment
- India was top source country with highest FDI capital into Dubai, accounting for 21.5 percent in 2024
- Business services, software, IT, and real estate were among top sectors of Indian investment
Chile wildfires leave 19 dead amid extreme heat as scores evacuated
- Fast-moving wildfires being worsened by intense heat, winds
- Firefighters battling 23 active blazes spreading toward cities
CONCEPCION, Chile: Wildfires in Chile have left at least 19 people dead, authorities said on Monday, as the government carried out mass evacuations and fought nearly two dozen blazes exacerbated by intense heat and high winds.
While weather conditions overnight helped control some fires, the largest were still active, with adverse conditions expected throughout the day, security minister, Luis Cordero, said at a news briefing on Monday.
“The projection we have today is of high temperatures,” Cordero said, and the main worry was that new fires would be triggered throughout the region.
Parts of central and southern Chile were under extreme heat warnings with temperatures expected to reach up to 37 Celsius (99 Fahrenheit).
STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN NUBLE, BIO BIO
As of late Sunday, Chile’s CONAF forestry agency said firefighters were combating 23 fires across the country, the largest of which were in regions of Ñuble and Bío Bío, where President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe.
Over 20,000 hectares (77 square miles) have been razed so far, an area about the size of Seattle, with the largest fire surpassing 14,000 hectares on the outskirts of the coastal city Concepcion.
The fast-moving blaze tore through the towns of Penco and Lirquen over the weekend, destroying hundreds of homes and killing several people, with authorities still assessing the damage.
HEAT, BLAZES ALSO IMPACT ARGENTINA
Authorities are currently battling the fire as it threatened Manzano prison on the edge of Concepcion and the town of Tome to the north.
Both Chile and Argentina rang in the new year with heat waves which have continued into January. Earlier this month, wildfires broke out in Argentina’s Patagonia, burning around 15,000 hectares.
