Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), UAE, is wooing IT companies from India to set up business ventures in its business and industrial parks.
The fixed exchange rate against US dollar, availability of different linguistics skills, time zone opportunity etc would be an advantage for business process outsourcing (BPO) and knowledge processing outsourcing (KPO) firms from India to start units in RAKIA free zones and non-free zones, Aseeb Abdul Khader, Vice President (Marketing), RAKIA, said.
Some leading IT companies from Bangalore have evinced interest in setting up their offices at RAKIA. However, he declined to divulge their names, saying that final round of discussions are in progress. RAKIA has already organised business seminars in Bangalore in the other day to woo IT firms from the pink city and the response was encouraging, he said.
Khader was speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of a round table meet organised by the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry on “Business opportunities in Ras Al Khaimah.
Asked why free trade zones from UAE are regularly organising business meets in India, he said they consider India a key market with a lot of potential in various sectors like IT, manufacturing, food processing, plastic, building materials etc. India is a major business partner in UAE and the presence of Indian business community would give more opportunities for firms which set up units in the zone.
According to him, there has been a 25 per cent growth from Indian companies in setting up ventures at RAKIA compared to last year and majority of them are carrying out industrial activities like manufacturing, packaging, trading business etc.
Of the 7,000 companies there, he said 30 per cent are from India. Leading among them are Ashok Leyland, Dabur, Mahindra.
Established in 2005, RAKIA has become one of the major business destinations in the West Asia. By setting up units, Indian firms would get several opportunities to expand in the Arab region with a benefit of direct market access to GCC countries by not paying any import duties. Besides, the market access to 11 other countries, which are part of Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA), would be an added advantage in marketing products in the region with low operating costs, he added.