The growing ties between India-UAE are evident by the swelling number of Indian expats in UAE, as the latter welcomes huge Indian migrants with open arms with its easy work permit, conducive working environment, and a relatively higher salary for the diaspora.
UAE remains the most popular choice for Indian immigrants: With close to three million Indian community in UAE, the country remains the top destination for the immigrants from India. The UAE policies have been very friendly in attracting migrants which include banning the confiscation of employee’s passport by the employer, transferring employer sponsorship and most critically ensuring the wage protection measures for the migrants.
In UAE over 17 percent of the workforce is engaged in Retail sector followed by Private production and ‘Household employer’ (14%) Construction (14%) and Transport (9%) .
The salary structure in UAE fluctuates according to the nature of jobs but Indians receives higher salary as compared to migrants from other nationals. The jobs involving manual labor which includes maids, nannies, gardeners, drivers, and security guards can receive a salary between Dh.1000 to Dh.1200 for Indian workers while the salary for the same job received by migrants from other nations including Indonesia and Bangladesh is marginally lower at Dh.650 to Dh.950.
But the demography of the Indian expats to the UAE is changing as increasing number of Indian professionals opt for the jobs in UAE which has higher salaries.
The basic salary in UAE as mandated by the law includes 30-days paid annual leave (21 for the first year), Medical insurance, Recruitment, and visa-processing fee and associated costs and Gratuity Pay. Apart from which the employer is required to pay for the return ticket to the home country after the employment contract has ceased to exist.
Rise in white collar migration from India to UAE: It is true that blue-collared professionals constitute the 60 percent of the total Indian workforce in UAE but this trend is fastly changing for last one and a half decade as professionals like bankers, doctors, managers from India opts for the UAE instead of the Western nations as salary here is comparable to any other advanced country.
An increasing number of IIT and IIM graduates apart from the other technical and management institutes are choosing UAE as the preferred destination to work given its geographical proximity and its comparable salary to the advanced nations. Apart from it, many NRIs also constitute a major chunk of the Indian white collar professionals in UAE.
Many of the flourishing businesses in UAE employ Indians at the mid-level or senior level apart from which there are sizeable numbers of Indian white-collar professionals such as doctors, engineers, and management consultants in the country.
Moreover, the Indian list of billionaires in UAE is also increasing who have striked a fortune there which includes Abu Dhabi-based Yusuffali M.A., the CEO of Lulu Hypermarket, Dubai-based chairman of Kataria Holdings, RaghuvinderKataria and MickyJagtiani, the owner of Dubai’s Landmark Group.
The Indian white-collar professionals enjoy a very luxurious lifestyle across the Gulf. The salary for these professionals is on an average above the minimum prescribed by the government.
The remittance sent by the Indian diaspora is very high: India receives between $12 billion and $15 billion annually as remittance from the Indians working in the UAE with the GCC region topping as the largest source of remittances to India.
Nearly 3 million Indian expats live in the UAE and their contribution to the country with remittance is very huge. They are not only helping in the development of the UAE but also are a big source of income to India.
The remittance received from the Gulf is also helping in the development of India as it increases economic activities in the country. The remittance received by expatriates’ families is mostly used in India on food, education, and healthcare, However, now there is increasing tendency to use remittance for the investment purposes. Property purchases and depositing the money from remittance in the high-yielding term deposits with banks are other common ways of using the remittance money for the expats’ families in India.
The most popular cities for purchasing the property using the remittance are Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bangalore.
The Indian economy receives high remittances even during the period of economic recessions which ensures that it works as a bulwark against any uncertainty.
GCC remains the largest source of remittance to the country constituting nearly 40 percent of the total contribution. India receives over $ 25 billion as remittance from the region annually.
The most common mode of sending money back home remains the electronic wire (transfer) while now there has been increasing trend to directly transfer to bank accounts or through the online mode.
The 63 percent of the total remittance transactions included a transfer of 50,000 rupees (Dh3,010) and above.
UAE is a peaceful country to work: Amidst the raging violence in middle eastern countries like Syria, Iraq, and Yemen the UAE has remained very peaceful which attracts the Indian migrants to the country.
Previously, large Indian migrant workers were moving to countries like Iraq and Syria, but the workers who returned to India in the aftermath of ISIS seized control of territories in these countries they are not very keen to return back. They are looking for other destinations and UAE with its safe environ emerges as the top choice for finding work.
Moreover, the UAE government has been acting very tough against the radicalization which infuses a sense of security among the workers. UAE is among the most tolerant countries in the Middle East which respects every religion. It is one of the reasons for the high migrations from India which include the workers from every sect and religion.
India’s relationship with the UAE is about brotherhood which has only become stronger by the Indian diaspora who are the best cultural ambassadors.
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