DIFC as a destination for Indian Fund Managers

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://10leaves.ae/publications/difc/difc-as-a-destination-for-indian-fund-managers-difc-company-formation The India - UAE relationship India and the UAE have shared warm relations going back centuries. The recent high-level visits of UAE and Indian leaders demonstrate the proactive nature of decision-making between the two countries. Another reason for the greater depth in relations is the rigorous structure of various committees that have been set up following the high-level visits. In addition, there are enormous possibilities from the $75-billion fund announced in 2015 by Indian Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed. With a 3.2-million-strong population, the Indian expatiate population in the UAE is the largest in the world, and is growing on a year-on-year basis. Over 1,000 flights operate between the two countries, and recent years have shown a significant increase in the number of tourists traveling from India to the UAE. In 1982, foreign trade figures between the UAE and India were at around 180 million. In 2016-17, these numbers crossed $52 billion, thus making India the second largest trading partner of UAE, and UAE became India’s third largest trading partner. At US$ 6.5 billion, India is the third-largest source of FDI in the UAE. Indians are the largest foreign investors in Dubai real estate, amounting to over US$ 5.7 billion, or 13% of the total. Why setup in the DIFC? The DIFC is one of the only two financial free zones in the UAE. It offers 100% foreign ownership, as opposed to establishing a financial services firm in the Dubai mainland, where only part foreign ownership is permitted. The DIFC is the preferred gateway for Indian investors to access the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) markets on one side and Europe, Asia and the Americas on the other – a region worth an estimated USD 7.4 trillion in annual trade.