Indian consul general urges workers in Dubai to start saving for retirement


Shuchita Gautam
  • English
  • Arabic

The Indian consul general urged workers in Dubai to keep aside small amounts of money each month and start saving for retirement.

Dr Aman Puri, the Indian official, was addressing workers on Friday at a labour camp of Larsen & Toubro, an Indian engineering and construction, where he explained the importance of small savings.

Dr Puri met the workers at their company accommodation in Dubai Investment Park and thanked them for continuing to work during the pandemic.

“You send most of your salary to your families back home and that’s how they survive, but you must also think about your future,” he said.

“There will come a time when you will have to leave and you must have savings to survive then.”

The Indian diplomat said there are 3.3 million Indians in the UAE and a majority of them are blue-collar workers.

“Indians in the UAE remit huge amounts of money. This is very important to support the Indian economy. Indians living here also strengthen ties between the two countries,” he said.

Residents in the Emirates remitted $21.6 billion (Dh79.6 billion) in the first half of 2020 with India the top receiving country, according to the UAE Central Bank.

Remittances in the first half of last year were 48.2 per cent of the total amount sent in 2019, which was Dh165 billion.

Dr Puri said it was important to be financially literate and save a part of one's monthly earnings.

India encourages its non-resident citizens to invest in the National Pension Scheme, a government-sponsored programme, for old-age income security.

The investments can be routed through normal banking channels with a minimum annual contribution of Rs6,000 (Dh300/$81).

Rajesh Kumar, country head of L&T, said 2020 was a difficult year for workers.

"March and April were trying when work stopped. Some workers had to be hospitalised due to the virus while many had to be relocated. Several people also went back home willingly. It was not easy for us," he said.

“Then, the UAE market reopened but India was in lockdown in the summer. The workers were extremely concerned about their families back home but they kept working despite all challenges.

“Our business shrank so we had to let people go but we are still a very big family.”

The campaign – Breakfast with Consul General – is being organised by the Consulate General of India in Dubai and Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra Dubai. It is a welfare initiative of the Indian government to support its citizens.

Indian officials will interact with blue-collar workers over breakfast meetings at a different labour accommodation each month under the new initiative.

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  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
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  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion

The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".

The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.

He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.

"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.

As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.