DUBAI- The Business Registration and Licensing, BRL, sector in the Department of Economic Development, DED, Dubai, has issued 1,748 new licenses during November 2018, as Dubai remained a destination of choice for investment in diverse business sectors.

Among the new licenses issued, 62.3 percent were commercial, 35.2 percent professional, 1.3 percent related to tourism, and 1.2 percent industry. The ‘Business Map’ digital platform of the department, which seeks to reflect the economic realities in Dubai by providing vital data on each license category including their numbers and distribution as well as investor trends on a monthly basis, saw 23,979 business registration and licensing transactions being completed during the month of November.

In November, the number of Trade Name Reservation was 3,037, while the number of Initial Approvals reached 2,265, and the number of Commercial Permits reached 2,283. The BRL also issued 136 instant licences. The Instant Licence is issued in a single step without the need for either the ?Memorandum of Association, MoA, ?or an existing location for the first year only.

The Business Map showed that License Renewal accounted for 11,156 transactions during November, while 4,979 transactions were related to Auto Renewal via text messages. The report also showed that the top nationalities who secured licenses in November 2018 were: India, followed by Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, China, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Jordan, Sudan and the Philippines. The outsourced service centres of the department issued 17,399 transactions, a growth of 72.5 percent of the total BRL transactions issued in November (23,979), thus demonstrating their vital role in delivering value-added services to the public in Dubai.

The report highlighted the distribution of the new licenses during November 2018 according to the main areas in Dubai, with Bur Dubai accounting for the largest share (915), followed by Deira (831), and Hatta (2). The top sub-regions that accounted for 52.7 percent of all the transactions were: Burj Khalifa (12.4 percent), Port Saeed (10 percent), Al Marar (4.6 percent), Garhoud (4 percent), Dubai World Trade Centre 1 (3.9 percent), Al Barsha 1 (3.9 percent), Al Khabaisi (3.4 percent), Naif (3.1 percent), Umm Ramool (2.9 percent), Al Karama (2.3 percent), and Hor Al Anz (2.2 percent). Trade and repair services accounted for 36.9 percent of the new issues licenses according to the distribution of economic activities, followed by Real estate, leasing and business services (22.4 percent), Building and Construction (14.7 percent), Community and personal services (10.4 percent), Hotels group (4.9 percent), Transport, storage and communications (3 percent), Manufacturing (2.6 percent), Financial brokerage (2.1 percent), Health and labour (1.7 percent), Education (0.6 percent), Agriculture (0.4 percent), and Mining and Natural Resources (0.3 percent).

© Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2018.