What does news on Dubai have to do with India? A lot. The emirate of UAE lovingly called 'Gulf' by the Indian population is a place teeming with Indians. It wouldnt be an exageration if i were to say that 40% of the UAE population is made up of Indians. Kerala, a small state in India survives on the remittances from the UAE and other Gulf states. So much so that any economic depression that hits the region has a direct impact on Kerala's economy.
Dubai has from time immemorial been a trader friendly emirate. With its limited oil resources, Dubai very early understood that it would have to open its economy to bring in investments. Also, with a lazy arab population, the country needed hardworking Indian labourers to build the Dubai that is today.
Over the years, Dubai has become a hot destination for investors and companies alike. Being a monarch led country, Dubai Inc has always managed to keep dissidents and negative comments under control to a very large extent. The outside world only sees and hears the glamourous side of dubai, but never the difficulties faced by the common emigrant worker in Dubai.
Reckless, unplanned development with borrowed money has led to Dubai finally defaulting on debt repayments. While they might get over the debt trap in the short term, it looks very difficult for dubai to continue on this illusionary high growth tragectory .
I have worked in Dubai for 5 years and i know very well that the economy is on ventilator. Even a small leak in the supply would have a cascading effect on the economy and also destabilising a lot of regional economies.
I hope things dont go wrong really bad there for the millions of Indians toiling to build the shining oasis... and the families that are dependant on the income!!
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To be more precise on the money remitted to Kerala from Dubai its INR 46000 crores every year
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