Indian groups plan to shift operations to emirate to explore potential in the GCC market
Dubai is the best place to establish a new business or expand operations to other GCC and Middle East countries due to its strategic location and investor-friendly environment, according to a non-resident Indian investor.
Rishabh Puri, executive director of Nexus General Trading and Global Sterling Products, said the emirate’s winning rights to host the World Expo 2020 is slated to be a big boon for business in the region.
“We are planning to use Dubai as a business hub for our growing businesses in India, United Kingdom and Nigeria. The emirate is the ‘best place to function’ to cater to the GCC and wider Middle East market,” Puri told.
About the group portfolio, he said it is engaged in the design, manufacturing and installation of high quality automated packaging machinery in West Africa and India.
“We specialise in user-friendly and easily maintained inline, rotary and turnkey packaging systems. The group also provides custom automated solutions for a variety of industries. Our design studio is located in the United Kingdom,” he said.
Puri, who looks after family business in United Kingdom and Nigeria, believes that the Dubai’s successful Expo 2020 bid will bode well for the companies across all sectors, as the emirate is “no doubt” very capable of holding an event of such magnitude.
“Dubai has a certain magnetic power… [with] the confirmation of [hosting] Expo 2020, it is likely that we will also see an increase in the number of new businesses and entrepreneurs looking to benefit from this influx,” he said.
“Positive news seems to be coming from every sector [in Dubai], and there is an estimate that millions of visitors will come here [for the Expo],” he said.
Puri terms that decision to relocate to Dubai as a “substantial move” for the group, as he sees good potential in the GCC market.
“Dubai, being the region’s hub, was the obvious choice to go, especially with the UAE’s overall connectivity to other key markets,” he said.
In the UAE, the company has started businesses similar to those in Africa and India, in addition to a water treatment plants solution in Saif Zone by the name of Global Sterling FZ-C and LED Lighting Systems in Dubai.
Puri said his group sustains a steady annual growth of about 15 per cent to 20 per cent since its inception 30 years back.
“The company’s business is performing well in its main Nigerian and Indian markets,” he said.
On the outlook for the business in 2014, Puri said it is “definitely very positive, as the UAE government has declared a lot of mega projects in terms of the development of the infrastructure and hospitality sectors”.
