Mass lay-offs in Gulf attracts Indian embassy concern

With large scale lay-offs in the Gulf triggered by shelving of mega construction projects touching off panic among Indian workforce, a top diplomat here said they were monitoring the situation closely.

Venu Rajamony, India's Consul-General in Dubai, said the mission is concerned with the recent developments and they are watching the situation very closely.

His comments come in the backdrop of reports of flights from the Gulf to the Indian sub continent running full bringing back thousands of retrenched Indian workers.

Rajamony said that airlines are getting bulk bookings over the January-March period, "We expect that about 25,000 people will be going to India. But we don't yet know whether they are going on leave and will come back and on what terms."

The number of recruitments of Indian workers has fallen drastically in recent months. "From around 3,500 in January-February of 2008 it has come down to around 250-300 people this year," he said.

There has been a spate of job losses in recent weeks in Dubai mostly in the construction and banking sectors. 

According to Morgan Stanley, around $263 billion worth of real estate projects have been delayed or canceled as the UAE's property sector has come under the spell of the global financial crisis.