Indians living and working in the UAE have described their anguish as they wait to be repatriated by their government.
More than 200,000 Indian citizens in the Emirates have asked to be flown home after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
India is expected to begin flights this Thursday, with 10 leaving for Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah over the next week.
The outbreak has had significant repercussions for employment globally, with job losses across a wide number of sectors.
I pray every day that my family does not get sick and the world gets better
Habeebullah Basha, 49, told The National he lost his job as a messenger for a legal consultancy in Dubai more than 40 days ago.
With no salary for close to two months, Mr Basha said he had been forced to take out loans from friends who he aimed to repay once back home in Pondicherry, southern India.
“Who is not scared of corona?” asked the father of two. “I pray every day that my family does not get sick and the world gets better.
“I can’t stay here without money and my borrowing from friends.
"My visa was cancelled because the company said there is no business.
“I have been searching for a job but with coronavirus it’s too difficult. I need to go back.”
Indian officials have asked those living in the UAE to be patient as they give priority to those with urgent medical requirements or who have families at home that need assistance.
Mohammed Aboobacker, a security guard in Abu Dhabi for nearly 30 years, said he hoped for confirmation of his flight home soon.
Mr Aboobacker, 58, said his job had allowed him to pay for his 22-year-old son to complete a bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences.
He said he had taken a free Covid-19 test at a centre for workers on April 22 and was awaiting the result.
“Everything is shut because of Covid and mentally I’m worried and want to be with my family,” said Mr Aboobacker, a father of three.
“I’ve been happy for all my work in the UAE, all the time I’ve lived here. Now I just want to go home. Any airport in Kerala is fine.”
Shruthi Kumar, who is pregnant, said she registered to be flown to Chennai, eastern India, so she could deliver her second child there.
Ms Kumar, 32, has a medical condition that may cause a difficult birth so she resigned from her job in March as a precaution.
She said her husband worked for a security company in Dubai but was now being paid half his salary because of the slowdown in business.
“Somehow we are managing costs,” said Ms Kumar, who is four months pregnant.
“But I don’t have insurance coverage so every day I pray that my daughter and I can somehow go back to my mother’s home.”
Meanwhile, Faisal Abdullah said he was worried for his wife Saidum Rizwana, who is due to give birth next week.
Ms Rizwana, their two children aged 8 and 5, and her brother arrived in Abu Dhabi two months ago on holiday from Kerala.
“They were booked to return in March but then the lockdown happened,” said Mr Abdullah, who works at a grocery store in Abu Dhabi’s Baniyas.
"I'm desperate for my family to return because it will be expensive to have the baby delivered here. I pray every day that they will go home safely."
On Monday night, the Delhi government said flights would be made available on a "payment basis".
"Medical screening of passengers would be done before taking the flight. Only asymptomatic passengers would be allowed to travel," the government Press Information Bureau said.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20ASI%20(formerly%20DigestAI)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Quddus%20Pativada%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Artificial%20intelligence%2C%20education%20technology%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243%20million-plus%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GSV%20Ventures%2C%20Character%2C%20Mark%20Cuban%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
