Owned by One97 Communications Limited (OCL), Paytm, the leader in digital payments in India, has extended its offerings to include international Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions.
Paytm users may now use the UPI system to make easy cashless payments in the UAE, Singapore, France, Mauritius, Bhutan, and Nepal, facilitating safe and transparent transactions with foreign retailers who use UPI.
How it Operates Internationally?
Travellers can use the Paytm app to instantly activate the international UPI service. A one-time activation connected to the user’s bank account is necessary for the setup. The app will immediately direct users to enable the service when they scan a UPI-enabled QR code overseas.
Depending on the length of their travel, customers can designate a usage term, from one day to ninety days, to maintain control and security. In order to prevent unintentional payments to overseas merchants, the feature also permits deactivation upon return to India. Before completing transactions, users are also fully informed about bank conversion costs and exchange rates.
How it can Benefit the Travellers?
By enabling cashless payments for dining or shopping, the international UPI service streamlines spending at well-known locations across the globe. As leaders in mobile payments, Paytm is excited to provide its services to Indian tourists, particularly as the holiday season draws near, a Paytm representative stated. The company’s dedication to empowering users anywhere in the world is demonstrated by this invention.
Paytm’s this Year’s Performance
After the decline brought on by the Reserve Bank of India‘s (RBI) action against Paytm Payments Bank, Paytm is confident that it is back on track. As income increased sequentially, the corporation is credited with reviving the revenue trend. Due to tax ramifications associated with the one-time gain that won’t be evident for several months, it is now unclear whether Paytm’s performance in Q2 has improved over Q1. During the Q2 FY25 earnings call, however, CFO Madhur Deora and founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma were eager to discuss how Paytm can return to actual profitability.
The default loan guarantee mechanism in the merchant lending industry took up a large portion of the call. In addition, Sharma asserted that the AI-led efficiency and productivity push and the cross-selling approach received some attention and should lessen Paytm’s need for hiring. As reported by media agencies, Paytm would reimburse its bank or NBFC lending partners for any losses resulting from defaults in its loan portfolio up to a predetermined proportion of the total amount disbursed under a default loan guarantee (DLG), also known as a first loss default guarantee (FLDG).
As an entrepreneur, one must always think and plan to expand his or her business and always be on the lookout for opportunities. These opportunities can be in your home country or the land the of wealthy, UAE. The lifestyle in the UAE is posh and lux since it is home to some of the wealthiest people in the world.
Trading or manufacturing quality goods or providing worthy service can take to new financial heights as people here are willing to spend money on quality goods and services. With a growing population, needs are increasing and so are the opportunities.
If your wish to start your business in the UAE, below are some best business ideas that you can choose from.
Construction Agency
Constriction Business in UAE – Business ideas in Dubai
A Construction Agency in the UAE can be one of your best bets if wish to start a new business. Due to numerous foreign investors seeking residential opportunities in Dubai and booming real estate has led to increased opportunity in the construction sector. Your agency can build for residential as well as commercial projects. It is one of the most profitable ventures in the UAE.
Real Estate Agency
Real Estate Agency in UAE – Business ideas in Dubai
Real estate has one of the greatest business opportunities in Dubai. There is almost a race going on for skyscrapers. The main reasons for this include increasing rent moderation, supply, and changing demand for executive positions in the employment market. Therefore, it could be a great opportunity for real estate entrepreneurs to initiate a real estate business in the UAE, especially in Dubai
Business in Health Sector
Healthcare Business in UAE – Business ideas in Dubai
The UAE has reported higher birth rates, increased life expectancy, a rapidly shifting epidemiology profile, and a rise in the incidence of noncommunicable diseases. All these factors, combined with a shortage of healthcare workers, and low insurance penetration rates, create bright opportunities for firms looking to enter the health care sector in the UAE.
Many big players in the health sector of UAE from the Gulf Capital itself and also London have seen splendid numbers in revenue. The investment bank Alpen Capital has estimated the healthcare spending in the UAE to expand by 13.1% annually in the next four years. This means that entrepreneurs looking to enter the healthcare sector in the UAE can have a healthy future.
Consultancy Business in UAE – Business ideas in Dubai
With the increasing number of businesses in the UAE, the need for consulting services is at an all-time high. Most of the companies in the UAE are new and at the incubation phase so they require advisory for efficient resource management.
These companies generally outsource their planning and strategy to skillful consultants for more accurate and achievable solutions. Therefore, starting a consultancy can be very profitable since there’s no scarcity of clients in the UAE marketplace.
Beauty Brand or Store
Beauty Store Business in UAE – Business ideas in Dubai
The UAE is the land of wealthy consumers that are very much interested in beauty products. It is one of the best marketplaces for luxury beauty brands to thrive and trader to generate amazing sales. People are willing to spend their money on expensive products if they’re worth it.
The diverse market has many options to choose from. Skincare, Makeup, Haircare, and Fragrances back their seller with great profits. Fragrances constitute a major chunk of the revenue as it is widely used in UAE. If you manage to build a great collection, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.
E commerce business in UAE – Business ideas in Dubai
The Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a catalyst in the growth of the online business sector. It accelerated the growth of e-commerce to new heights. Just in the initial months of 2020, UAE saw a 300% increase in the demand for e-commerce among its customers. Thus, a company to provide easy ways out to such business owners are bound to make profits.
Since many established brands are tilting towards e-commerce, it inevitable that they’re going to need expert solutions in the process which such companies are going to provide.
Fish Farming
The UAE primarily depends on imports to meet its food supply demands. To ensure food security, the government is encouraging foreign and local investments in aquaculture developments. They are willing to provide several incentives for the sector, along with fingerlings of local species, curating aquaculture frameworks, reducing institutional and investment constraints, and mapping out suitable sites for development.
These incentives are coupled with the gradual increase in fish prices have made aquaculture in the region an attractive investment and business proposition.
Recycling Business in UAE – Business ideas in Dubai
Recycling is a relatively infamous yet profitable business. People have made millions in waste. Retail outlets in malls and high-end stores undergo a revamping procedure every two to three years as part of a clean image campaign. This creates opportunity and revenue for contractors.
UAE government is working towards supporting such businesses as they need to manage their overall waste generated each year. Recycling also has great potential in the construction sector as it accounts for 60-70% of the total waste generated.
Security Service
Security service business in UAE – Business ideas in Dubai
There are Security Companies in the UAE that protect the people, private properties, and government entities. It is a profitable business option as there will always be a demand for security guards in the UAE. But you need to decide on a free zone or mainland setup.
If you choose to establish your business in the mainland, you can freely trade with the local market. You can bid for government contracts that can be quite lucrative. On the other hand, is a free zone, you get 100% exemption from customs tax.
Jewellery Making
Home to numerous wealthiest individuals from the world, UAE is the perfect place to line up ajewellery company. The government has created specific rules and regulations to impose check-ups on those who bring gold or other valuable metals which are sold within the Dubai Souk.
The UAE jewellery market had grossed 12 billion dirhams by 2020. Dubai leads the UAE jewellery market as it has tourists who find it cheaper than their home countries and enjoy an outstanding range of exquisite jewellery.
Conclusion
These were some fields in which you can make great profits in the UAE. With supportive laws, some of these sectors can also be sustainable in the long run. Rising demands are creating a market for new businesses that generate great sales and build a strong customer base. You too can establish a successful business in the UAE if you play by the rules, understand the culture, and offer quality service.
FAQs
Which business is profitable in UAE?
Real estate, Business Consultancy and Healthcare are some of the profitable business ideas you can start in UAE.
Is UAE good for business?
Low tax rates, low import duties, free trade agreements, state of the art infrastructure, and a lot of other benefits makes the United Arab Emirates (UAE) a great place to start a new business.
Dubai is the wealthiest of seven emirates that form the United Arab Emirates. It is the land of the rich, luxurious restaurants, ports, and beaches. By these beaches, skyscrapers stand tall where businesses are conducted. Huge affluence creates a big market for startups to spread their wings. From deluxe shopping apps to brilliant waste management systems, startups have been taking this city to new heights.
Below are the top 20 emerging startups in Dubai that have acquired a significant space in the Dubai startup environment in a few years:
The Luxury Closet brings you all luxurious brands at your fingertips. It includes brands like Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Tiffany & co., and Cartier. It is one of the top startups in Dubai that offers a one-stop-shop for all things fancy for both men and women. The company also offers home décor and kitchen essentials from high-end brands.
2. Souqalmal
Founder: Ambareen Musa
Founding year: 2012
Souqalmal Homepage
Souqalmal is a comparison website startup in Dubai that lets you compare insurance and financial products before you make the final decision. It aims to help customers save money by choosing wisely and not giving in to the first deal they see. They provide car insurance, banking, and financial solutions that lead to saving money.
3. Seez
Founder: Andrew Kabrit
Founding year: 2015
Seez Homepage
Seez is an auto marketplace startup in Dubai. Users can choose from a wide variety of used or new cars. It allows users to buy or lease cars by comparing prices. The Car Valuation feature provides the latest market prices, options for negotiation, and depreciation of any car.
4. Bekia
Founder: Alaa Kamal, Mohamed Zohdy
Founding year: 2017
Bekia Homepage
Bekia is a brilliant Egpyt-based waste management startup. It lets users exchange waste materials such as plastics, paper, electronics or even cooking oil with points. These points can be used to buy groceries, metro tickets, mobile credits, or school supplies. This concept promotes people to voluntarily dispose of waste sustainably. Bekia is counted among the top startups in Dubai.
5. Arabia Starzplay
Founder: Maaz Sheikh
Founding year: 2015
Starzplay Homepage
Starzplay is just like Netflix but for Dubai. It streams movies and shows in Arabic as well as other languages. Animes and Hollywood movies are also available.
6. Noon
Founder: Mohamed Alabbar
Founding year: 2016
Noon Homepage
Noon is another online shopping platform that delivers in UAE, Egypt, and KSA. It is a generic e-commerce site that delivers all kinds of products from clothes to electronics to skincare. Even groceries are available on this platform with affordable deals.
7. Avidbeam
Founder: Dr Hani El Gebaly
Founding year: 2014
AvidBeam Homepage
Avidbeam is a Dubai based startup that offers advanced solutions for Smart Spaces, Smart buildings, and cities. Their main aim is to build an affordable video analytics platform that enhances business performance. They offer Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision to scale the growth of businesses. They also address public security and safety among other services.
8. Ziwo
Founder: Eric Ouisse, Renaud de Gonfreville
Founding year: 2010
Ziwo bridges the gap between customers and clients by providing call centre services. They connect customers with companies and solve their problems in real-time. Customers can clear all their doubts via a hotline that links them to company executives and solve all their queries right on the call.
9. Almentor
Founder: Husni Khuffash, Ibrahim Kamel, Hesham Heikal, Abdelrahman Fahmy
Founding year: 2016
Almentor provides courses that are required presently in the market. These courses include Stress Management, English Pronunciation, Radio Presenting and HR Analysis. They have mentors and teachers that help users develop in-demand skills for jobs and personal growth. These self-development courses make users ready to face the challenges of today’s world.
10. Unifonic
Founder: Hassan Hamdan, Ahmed Hamdan
Founding year: 2006
AvidBeam Homepage
Unifonic is one of the top startups in Dubai that offers SMS, voice, and messaging apps to enhance customers’ experience. They work on converting text to speech, send notifications with text to speech, and chatbox. Their SMS services can be used for Automatic Notification, Authentication and Marketing.
11. Beehive
Founder: Craig Moore
Founding year: 2017
Beehive Homepage
Beehive connects businesses to lenders who are willing to lend against their invoices. They are leading fintech pioneers who use innovative technology that leads to affordable finance. They work through a sophisticated process where approved businesses are listed in the marketplace and investors fund them on the platform.
12. Renty
Founder: Yevhen Parokhod
Founding year: 2018
Renty Homepage
Renty is a basic car renting platform that rents luxurious cars too. They also provide Chauffeur services that appeal to the top rich businessmen. Some of their rentals include high-end names such as Bentley Continental GT, Lamborghini Evo- SPYDER, Porsche Taycan Turbo, and Rolls Royce Wraith.
Sprii is an online marketplace for all kinds of pregnancy and baby products. They aim to connect expectant mothers to their favourite global brands. Sprii has clothes for moms and kids, baby essentials, and kits for prenatal yoga. During the Covid-19 Sprii was shut down.
14. YallaParking
Founder: Craig MacDonald
Founding year: 2016
YallaParking Website
Anybody who lives in a big city knows that parking can be a huge hassle. That’s why YallaParking provides a platform where you can look for a parking spot, book it and park your car. This realizes the true spirit of startups which is simplifying day-to-day tasks through advanced technology.
15. Nabbesh
Founder: Rima El Sheikh, Loulou Khazen
Founding year: 2012
Nabbesh provides job opportunities through its online platform. It connects job seekers with employers, who can hire them. They employ many fields such as tech, finance, education, and other art fields where talented people can get a job and earn for themselves.
16. Matic Services
Founder: Mohamed Semad
Founding year: 2015
Matic Homepage
Matic Services is making household chores easy for everyone. They bring together several house helpers who can work at the customer’s convenience to keep your home clean. These are trained and certified cleaners whom people can trust. Users can also choose their preferred cleaner by pre-booking as per their schedule.
17. Pi Slice
Founder: Genny Ghanimeh
Founding year: 2012
Pi Slice Homepage
Pi Slice is a Dubai based startup with a great initiative to provide small funds to those who need it. Everybody does not require big investments and many businesses are small scales. Pi Slice connects these small businesses with people in the Middle East and North America who want to invest in them. This works well both ways as the young businesses get their money and investors get opportunities.
Jamalon is the Middle East’s largest online bookstore that offers a variety of books in one place. They have books in Arabic as well as the English language. These books include architecture, graphic novels, and comics, computers, self-help, and design.
19. Careem
Founders: Mudassir Sheikha, Abdulla Elyas, Wael Nafee, Magnus Olsson
Founding year: 2016
Careem Homepage
Careem allows users to enjoy multiple services in one place. They provide a taxi service and you can book a car for your personal use too. It offers food delivery services and prides on hassle-free payments that can be made through Careem payment mode. It has spread its wings in more than 100 cities in 13 countries from Morocco to Pakistan.
20. The List
Founder: Andreas Skorski
Founding year: 2016
The List Homepage
The list is another luxuries marketplace that signifies the posh lifestyle of people in Dubai. It provides fancy brands like Burberry, Gucci, Valentino and Chanel. It is your basic online clothes and accessories shopping platform but the twist is it’s not basic at all. With its collection of top-class brands, it is one of the leading startups in Dubai and a heaven for the rich to splurge.
Conclusion
These startups symbolize the lifestyle in Dubai. People are open to advanced tech making changes in traditional practices. These startups in Dubai are doing great for themselves while contributing to the boosting economy. As young businesses are the backbone of an economy, Dubai is bound to flourish.
FAQ
Is Dubai good for startups?
UAE is ranked 11th in ease of doing business and 25th in starting a business on World Bank’s 2019 ease of doing business report.
What are some of the top startups in Dubai?
The Luxury Closet, Souqalmal, and Seez are some of the top Startups in Dubai.
Is Dubai a good place for entrepreneurs?
Dubai is ranked among the world’s best cities for entrepreneurs moving abroad to start a business, more specifically in import/export sector.
UAE can be considered as one of the best places to set up a new business or to expand your existing business internationally. The country’s economy is the fourth largest in the middle east and has a GDP of USD 421 billion. There are few steps you would have to follow in order to set up a business in UAE.
1. Select the Right Jurisdiction for your Business in UAE
The most important step of any business is to select the business activity and that should be your first step. But for setting up a business in the UAE you should have a basic idea of the different jurisdictions first and accordingly move forward with the rest of the steps.
The UAE market is divided into different economic zones. The different zones in the UAE are Mainland, Free zone and Offshore. These economic zones are jurisdictions and each jurisdiction has a different set of rules and regulations.
Mainland
A business that is set up in the Mainland of UAE will be able to do business anywhere in the UAE market. This means that the company will be able to do business in both inside and outside the UAE market. It is mandatory to have a physical office space with a minimum requirement of 140 sq. ft.
Free Zone
A business that is set up in the Free zone of UAE has certain restrictions in doing the business. They will only be able to conduct the business in the jurisdiction of the Free zone and outside the UAE. It is not mandatory to have a physical office space and a virtual office space would do.
Offshore
Offshore companies are business entities that will be registered in the UAE in order to conduct the business outside the country or outside the jurisdiction. The offshore companies are allowed to set up multi-currency accounts in UAE and to carry out the business internationally. An important point you should notice is Offshore companies are tax free in UAE.
2. Choose the Type of Business you want to Setup in UAE
The first step would be to choose the type of business activity you would want to set up in the UAE. For example, certain Free zones would allow only a specific type of activity in their area and it is wise to set up a business in the zone where it is closely related to your activity.
If your business is concentrated on import and export it would be better if the business is set up near the port or an airport. However, choosing the business activity will be the major step in setting up your company in the UAE.
3. Select a Name for your Business in UAE
The next step would be to choose the name of the company for your business activity. In UAE there are certain restrictions in regards to the name of the company. You will not be able to use any religious names that are referred to Allah, Him or anything related to the religion.
You will also be restricted from using the names of various political groups such as the FBI or Mafia and if you choose to register the business under a person’s name then he or she should be registered as a partner for the business.
4. Paperwork for your Business in UAE
You will have to finish the paperwork after selecting the activity and the name of your business. You will have to fill an application with the activity and the name you have chosen for your company. You will also have to submit a copy of the passports of shareholders to the government authorities.
It is to be noted that certain Free zones will require additional papers and documents such as a business plan or a NOC (Non-objection certificate) which is a letter from the current sponsor that they don’t have any issues to set up another business in UAE.
If you seek an expert help then it wouldn’t be so complicated as they would take care of the major challenges and advise you on the paperwork and help you in completing it.
5. Obtain a License for your Business in UAE
The easiest and the most important step is receiving your license. After all the steps you will receive a license from the government after checking all the applications and the documents submitted.
You will also have to apply and receive a trade license which is also called as the business license. There are different types of business licenses in the UAE such as Professional License, Industrial License, Tourism License and Commercial License.
These licenses are important for UAE Mainland companies but for Free zone company it would defer according to the business activity and the jurisdiction.
The next important step is to open a bank account in UAE. The country has a lot of banks both local and international ones. Some of the local bank accounts in the country are Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and many more. The major global names are Citi Bank, HSBC and Barclays.
You can choose any bank and approach them or the business set up partner you have approached will try arranging a meeting with the bank of your choice and this may help you understand the policies of the bank and then make a decision.
7. Submit an Application for your Visa in UAE
This is the final step of setting up your business in the UAE. You will have to submit the application for processing your visa, according to the economic zone you select it will let you process the visa for your dependents and employees as well.
The Visa processing will consist of 5 simple stages such as Entry Permit, Status Adjustment, Medical Test, Emirates ID registration and Visa Stamping.
FAQ
Which is the best business in UAE?
E-Commerce Solutions, Travel and Tourism, Real Estate Agency, and Health Sector are some of the best business you should consider in UAE.
Is UAE good for business?
Low tax rates, low import duties, free trade agreements, a competitive economy, strategic location, state of the art infrastructure, are some of the benefits that make United Arab Emirates (UAE) one of the best places in the world for business.
Which business is best in Dubai?
Restaurant, Construction, Health and wellbeing, Transport, Freight and cargo, Real estate, and Cleaning services are some of the best business you can start in Dubai.
Conclusion
The UAE Free zone is more common in between the foreign entrepreneurs than the Mainland and offshore economic zone. The company formation in UAE is easier and they have a speedy process with strong incentives which makes it one of the favourite location for the foreign entrepreneurs.
Nitin Konde
