Indian Consulate provides food and drink for desolate labourers

SHARJAH // Hundreds of construction workers have appealed for help from authorities after being left stranded in their camps without food or money. Nearly 400 workers from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka claim they have not been paid by Portland Marine Technical Services, a labour supply company in Sharjah, for more than four months.

One worker, Badrul Muneer, 27, said: "I came back from my annual holidays only to be told that there is no more work in the company. There has been no work for the last four months. We sit in the camps all day waiting to be paid. "The mobile phones of all the office staff are always switched off. We are told that the company office in Sharjah is also locked." The Indian labourer, who works as a welder, said he now wanted to return home.

Officials from the Indian Consulate in Dubai visited the camps after a group of workers submitted a written complaint to the mission. Officials inspected the camp and recorded statements from the workers. "Consulate officials visited the camp a couple of times. I also met the workers and listened to what they had to say," said Sanjay Verma, the Consul General of India in Dubai. "Our understanding is that the workers have not been paid for about four months. One company partner is in jail while another is absconding. The company is at a loose end at the moment."

The consulate is now in talks with agents from the company as well as the Ministry of Labour. "We are trying to work out a solution so that the workers get their dues and can return home," he added. Left in their camp without any money or food, the workers have been relying on assistance from welfare groups and the Indian Consulate. "Many people and organisations have come to help us, which is why we are surviving. The Indian consulate has also arranged food, water and other requirements for us," said Sajith Pechanath, another Indian worker, who said he was owed Dh9,000.

Mr Verma added: "We are funding the food and other requirements of the workers. Some welfare groups have taken the responsibility of arranging everything." Several attempts to contact the company yesterday failed as there was no response from any of the office phone lines. pmenon@thenational.ae

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Company Profile

Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed

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