Page 3 - Gulf Countries

Seeing positive trends in travel, investing in tech: MakeMyTrip Group CTO

Travel is back with a vengeance after the difficult Covid years and online travel company MakeMyTrip has moved beyond the traditional business-to-consumer segment to line up new offerings and new partners, says its group CTO Sanjay Mohan. Over the last few years, we have expanded beyond our usual B2C space, and have become a travel platform, offering travel products to channels outside of our popular, consumer-facing, travel super-app, Mohan told PTI, citing new features such as myBiz for corporate, myPartner for travel agents and myAffiliate for affiliate partners. Moving swiftly to capitalise on the Indian diaspora in the Gulf countries where the brand is quite well-known, MakeMyTrip has also entered the Gulf market, he said. MakeMyTrip, which has a total transacted customer base of over 60 million, continues to invest in technology at a steady pace, he added. "Even during the Covid years, we were investing in technology and building interesting use cases for the ...

Pak approves projects worth billions to Gulf countries for investment

In a major development, Pakistan has in principle approved 28 projects worth billions of dollars that would be offered to Gulf countries for investment with the long-term objective to reduce reliance on loans and imports. The newly established Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) -- a hybrid civil-military forum is leading the drive to fast-track economic development to address the financial woes of the country. The list of the approved projects suggests that if all the schemes are picked up by countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, the quantum of investment under the SIFC banner can be greater than the USD 28 billion under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), The Express Tribune reported. The approved schemes are in the food, agriculture, information technology, mines and minerals, petroleum and power sectors. They include cattle farms; the USD 10 billion Saudi Aramco refinery; explorations of copper and gold in Chagai; and the Thar Coal .

More than 66% of 1.34 crore NRIs live in Gulf countries: RTI reply

Of the estimated 1.34 crore Non-Resident Indians, more than 66 per cent are in the Gulf countries of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, the External Affairs Ministry has said in an RTI reply. The data is as of March 2022, said the ministry. AnI is an Indian citizen who is ordinarily residing outside India and holds an Indian passport. Nagpur-based banker Abhay Kolarkar said he had sought the data pertaining toIs and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) under Right to Information (RTI) a few months ago and the ministry's reply reached him in the last week of June. In its RTI reply, the ministry said that an estimated 1.34 croreIs live in 210 countries. Of these, 88.8 lakh overseas Indians live in six Gulf nations. While 34.1 lakhIs live in the United Arab Emirates, 25.9 lakh live in Saudi Arabia, followed by 10.2 lakh in Kuwait, 7.4 lakh in Qatar, 7.7 in Oman and 3.2 lakh in Bahrain. Kolarkar said he wanted the data to get a sense of the number ofIs who might be affect

PM Modi leaves for India after concluding day-long productive visit to UAE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday concluded his day-long "productive" visit to the UAE during which he held bilateral talks with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan. "Concluding a productive UAE visit. Our nations are working together on so many issues aimed at making our planet better. I thank HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for the warm hospitality, Modi said on Twitter. The two leaders agreed to start trade settlements in local currencies, link the Fast payment systems of India and the UAE and open IIT-Delhi campus in the Gulf country. The Prime Minister departed for India after a banquet hosted in his honour by the UAE President. A visit defined by transformative outcomes. PM @narendramodi emplanes for New Delhi after wrapping up a successful visit to UAE, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

Rs 2,000 currency note withdrawal creating chaos for Indians in Gulf

Several Indians in the Gulf nations are having a harrowing time ever since the Indian government decided to withdraw the Rs 2,000 notes from circulation, with a lot of them saying that the banking institutions in the region are claiming to be not aware of the policy change. On May 19, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made a surprise announcement of the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 currency notes but gave the public time till September 30 to either deposit the Rs 2,000 notes in accounts or exchange them at banks. The RBI said it had asked banks to stop issuing Rs 2,000 notes with immediate effect. In the UAE, Indians are facing a tough time getting Rs 2,000 notes exchanged. Among many is Firoza Sheikh (name changed on request) who landed in Dubai last week with her two children to join her husband for a month-long break. Days later, as she heard the announcement of the Rs 2,000 currency withdrawal, she rushed to an exchange centre to get the local currency equivalent of the eight notes of

Bilateral rights row: Don't club us with GCC nations, says Jazeera Air CEO

India and Kuwait revised the air service agreement in 2007 and carriers of both sides are entitled to deploy 12,000 seats per week each, but that limit has now got exhausted

Uttar Pradesh veggies spicing up Arabic cuisine, farm exports jump

State shipped 160k tonnes of veggies to Gulf in FY22

What makes GCC nations such a big draw for India's emigrant labour?

The deplorable conditions of migrant workers in Gulf countries, have been well documented across media reports over the last few decades

TMS Ep334: Indian tech sector, Indian workers in Gulf, markets, Covid BF.7

What does 2022 foretell for the Indian tech sector? Why do Indian workers go to Gulf? Will the Sensex dip to 57,000 before jumping to 75,000? What is Covid Omicron BF.7? Answers here

Why do Indian workers go to Gulf despite poor conditions?

The FIFA World Cup in Qatar is over, but the deplorable conditions migrant workers still linger. But why are more and more Indians flocking to GCC countries despite reports of human rights violation

Leading firms in oil-rich Gulf region propose to invest $6 billion in UP

The investment is expected to flow in multiple sectors, including energy, retail, real estate, and electric mobility

China's Xi vows to buy more oil from Mideast countries as US focus wanes

Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed on Friday to import more oil and natural gas from energy-rich Gulf Arab states while not interfering in their affairs, likely seeking to cast Beijing in a more favourable light than Washington as America's attention in the region wanes. Xi also urged the Arab countries to conduct energy sales in the Chinese yuan, potentially divorcing the U.S. dollar from transactions in a region where the United States still stations thousands of troops across a network of local bases as a hedge against Iran. China's hands-off approach could appeal to leaders such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who stands ready to rule the oil-rich kingdom for possibly decades, even after facing widespread international criticism over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the still-raging war in Yemen. During Xi's visit to Saudi Arabia this week, the prince himself welcomed him to a meeting of the clubby Gulf Cooperation Council, and later to a wide

Remittance inflows in India to top $100 billion in 2022: World Bank brief

Remittance inflow pattern in India has undergone a structural shift from gulf countries to high-income countries in the past few years

In 2020, Indians accounted for over 6 per cent of global emigrants

The total number of Indians living outside of the country touched 17.9 million that year

Nykaa, Dubai's Apparel Group forge GCC alliance to build multi-beauty brand

Indian cosmetics and fashion retailer Nykaa on Thursday entered a strategic alliance with Dubai-based fashion and lifestyle retail conglomerate Apparel Group to expand in Gulf countries

Attack on women fuels gender debate ahead of assembly elections in Kuwait

It's one of a number of attacks, some fatal, against women in recent years that are focusing attention on gender-based violence, political representation and rights as Kuwaitis prepare to vote

PFI has strong roots in Gulf, money was sent to India via Hawala: NIA

The sources in the NIA said that PFI had allegedly received huge fund through Hawala from its UAE and Gulf countries-based members

Gulf nations ask streaming giant Netflix to remove ''offensive'' videos

Gulf Arab countries have asked Netflix to remove offensive content on the streaming service, apparently targeting programs that show people who are gay and lesbian. A joint statement issued on behalf of a committee of the Gulf Cooperation Council made the request, saying the unspecified programs contradict Islamic and societal values ??and principles. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each published the statement via their respective governments as well. They, along with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar, make up the six-nation council. While the statement didn't elaborate, Saudi state television also aired video of an interview it conducted with a woman identified as a behavioral consultant who described Netflix as being an official sponsor of homosexuality. It aired footage at the same time of a cartoon that had two women embrace, though the footage was blurred out. Saudi state television also aired a segment suggesting Netflix could be banned in the kingdom over that ...

Gulf won't significantly cut down oil exports to India to satisfy Europe

Gulf oil exporters will most likely not cut crude supplies to India significantly next year in a bid to satisfy growing demand from Europe

Gulf states to gain $1.3 trillion in additional oil revenue by 2026: IMF

The gains, due to high oil prices, are expected to provide 'firepower' to the region's sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), one of the largest in the world