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
https://arab.news/92u9u
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
Greek coast guard search for 15 after migrant boat found adrift
- The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water
ATHENS: Greek coast guard were on Monday searching for 15 people who fell into the water from a migrant boat that was found drifting off the coast of Crete with 17 bodies on board.
The 17 fatalities, all of them men, were discovered on Saturday on the craft, which was taking on water and partially deflated, some 26 nautical miles (48 kilometers) southwest of the island.
Post-mortem examinations were being carried out to determine how they died but Greek public television channel ERT suggested they may have suffered from hypothermia or dehydration.
A Greek coast guard spokeswoman told AFP that two survivors reported that “15 people fell in the water” after the motor cut out on Thursday, then the vessel drifted for two days.
At the time, Crete and much of the rest of Greece was battered by heavy rain and storms.
The two survivors reported that the vessel had become unstable due to bad weather and there was no means of getting shelter, food or water.
The vessel had 34 people on board and had left the Libyan port of Tobruk on Wednesday, the Greek port authorities said. Most of those who died came from Sudan and Egypt.
It was initially spotted by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship on Saturday, triggering a search that included ships and aircraft from the Greek coast guard and the European Union border agency Frontex.
Migrants have been trying to reach Crete from Libya for the last year, as a way of entering the European Union. But the Mediterranean crossing is perilous.
In Brussels, the EU’s 27 members on Monday backed a significant tightening of immigration policy, including the concept of returning failed asylum-seekers to “return hubs” outside the bloc.
The UN refugee agency said more than 16,770 asylum seekers in the EU have arrived on Crete since the start of the year — more than any other island in the Aegean Sea.
Greece’s conservative government has also toughened its migration policy, suspending asylum claims for three months, particularly those coming to Crete from Libya.
