Free Trade Zones - Dubai has many free trade zones, and while operating a business through any of these free trade zones, the company is exempted from both corporate and income taxes, as well as ownership requirements.

Massive Oil wealth would increase the GDP per capita, thereby increasing the access to modern technology.

Low cost labor and ideal location, which is accessible from east as well as west provide Dubai with an added advantage to quickly become a premier location for exporting technology in 21st century.

Absence of Trade Barriers - No significant trade barriers to software or hardware market, thereby giving easy entry for Software and Service Providers.

Incredible Government Support towards IT and Telecommunications - Recognizing the critical role that IT and Telecommunication plays in economic well-being of the country, government has been pouring in lot of money for developing and expanding local infrastructures. Fiber networks and wireless telephony has found its way into the country, and there exists a huge demand for telecom service providers, who would be able to bank on the technological advancements, and provide the latest telecom solutions.

In the last one year, there has been a 700 percent increase in spending on Information Systems, with services related to hosted infrastructure increasing by more than 69 percent.

Indian companies have already started embarking on the Middle East with Tata Consultancy Services leading the pack. This year, on 25th of July, 2006, TCS struck a deal with Saudi Telecom. TCS would be working on a end-to-end billing and customer care services in Saudi Telecom. The deal is worth USD 33 million and would be delivered in 18 months.

Next

* Contributed by -
Manik Kinra,
Batch 2006-07,
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.