India’s maturing fintech ecosystem attracting UAE-based firms

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A golden era of entrepreneurship has been ushered in since the last one year, with India’s maturing Fintech ecosystem, attracting UAE-based companies to leverage on the country’s fintech strategy, experts said at a summit on Tuesday.

Companies presenting emerging new models are already seeing traction on the back of the phenomenal India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa) that was signed last year.

Jointly organised by International Business Linkage Forum (IBLF) and Dubai International Chamber, one of the three chambers operating under Dubai Chambers, the India-UAE Partnership summit follows a rise in business interest between the two countries on the back of the Cepa agreement and the announcement of Golden visas in the UAE.

Speaking at the India-UAE Partnership Summit, currently taking place at the Dubai Chambers, Sunjay Sudhir, Ambassador of India to the UAE, said fintech is certainly one of those areas, which is seeing a lot of investments…going in startups.

"The target was $100 billion in five years (after signing of Cepa). We have been just about eight months and for this financial year, we are already hitting about $88 billion. We have seen some landmark investments, including say an investment of $2 billion by International Holding Company (IHC) Abu Dhabi into Adani energy and similar investments have been seen with Tata. A lot of these investments are going into the futuristic sectors… into areas dealing with renewable energies, into technology, and into startups,” the ambassador said.

Shedding light on the UAE’s golden visa and green visa that are attracting talented individuals to the region, Mohammad Ali bin Rashed Lootah, president and CEO, Dubai Chambers, said India was the first country to sign such a bilateral trade agreement with the UAE and the nation is integral to the UAE economy with approximately 3.5 million Indian citizens living here.

"As the UAE and Dubai come to require top talent, it is a ripe market to cater to the needs of the local labour market, as well as attracting entrepreneurs and visionaries as a response,” he said.

“With this in mind, the recent change of new visas makes it easier, more than ever before, for Indians to live, work and do businesses here. With the Golden visa and Green visa for entrepreneurs, it’s opening up new opportunities for all. Dubai Chamber stands at the very heart of this special partnership. By the end of 2022 our membership database reveals 83,000 members of Indian companies. Our mandate is to strengthen international relationship with strong markets such as India,” he said.

It was also revealed that today more than 30 per cent of start-up communities in Dubai come from India and one million jobs have been created by Indian firms and non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the Middle East including the UAE.