October proved a record month for Dubai’s Department of Economic Development (DED) as the Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) Department issued an impressive 1,898 new licenses, an overall increase of 25.8% in contrast to September’s 1509 licenses. This clearly endorses Dubai as the unrivaled champion of business setup in the Middle East and the top destination of choice for foreign investors. From new license category, Dubai’s 4 major sectors recorded the most issuance, Commercial leading with 62.1%, followed by Professional at 35.5%, Industrial at 1.4% and Tourism securing 1%.
The month of October saw an astonishing 27,265 business registrations, and licensing transactions successfully closed, reflecting a 23.3% increase compared to September’s 22,113 transaction. The report was made by ‘Business Map’ a digital platform and research body of DED responsible for gathering vital data on licenses issued, license categories and investor trends in Dubai.
The report also showed statistics of Trade Name Reservation at 3,431, a 32% increase compared to September’s 2,790, Initial Approvals at 2,449, increasing by 24.4% compared to September’s 1,969 and Commercial Permits at 2,395, growing by 48.4% compared to September’s 1,614. Similarly, License Renewals were recorded at 12,989 transactions, another increase of 17.3% compared to September’s 11,072 transactions. Instant licenses scored another victory of 126, a further increase by 34% compared to last month’s 94 licenses.
DED’s outsourced service centers also experienced rising FDI’s in October, accounting for 18,213 transactions compared to September’s 14,694, an increase of 23.9%.
Highlighting the distribution of new licenses, the report revealed Dubai’s regional shares and sub-regional shares with Bur Dubai taking the lead at 972, Deira at 918 and Hatta at 8. The sub-regions took 54% of the transactions with Burj Khalifa at 18.3%, Port Saeed 8.4%, Al Marar 5.2%, Garhoud at 5.1%, Dubai World Trade Centre 1 at 3.9%, Naif at 3.2%, Al Barsha 1 at 2.9%, Al Karama at 2.6%, Al Wasl at 2.4%, and Hor Al Anz at 2.2%.
October report showed 32% of the new licenses were registered with Trade & repair services, followed by Real estate, leasing & business services at 26%, Building & Construction at 16%, Community & personal services at 10%, Hotels Group at 7.2%, Transport, Storage & Communications at 3% Manufacturing at 2%, Financial Brokerage at 2%, Health & Labor at 0.7%, Education at 0.5%, Agriculture at 0.5%, and Mining & Natural Resources at 0.1%.
Indian investors ranked on the 1st spot for most licenses registrations followed by Pakistan, Egypt, Britain, Bangladesh, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, China, Sudan, and the Philippines.
