Job prospects in Gulf not hit by recession: Report

29 June 2009
Panaji:

Panaji: Indian missions in Gulf countries have rubbished reports stating that job retrenchment in those nations is forcing Indians to return unemployed

"The number of Indians are increasing. The reports are untrue," Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, Ambassador of India to the state of Qatar, told reporters here on Sunday.

She was having an informal chat with journalists during an interaction session organised by Commissioner of NRI affairs Eduardo Faleiro.

"In last five months, the number of Indians to Qatar has increased by 30,000," she said adding, "according to one of the estimate, only 3,000 people were retrenched and sent back last year." According to official figures, there are 4.62 lakh Indians in Qatar.

Wadhwa said global recession has not impacted job prospects in the country by much as its economy is growing at nine per cent. "There are various postponed projects which would take off by next year," she said.

Indian ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman, Anil Wadhwa, who was also present on the occasion, said buoyant economic story of Oman has impeded the impact of recession.

India has strong presence in the country as there are 130 Indian companies or joint ventures there, he said, "we have checked with airlines, the number of tickets from India to Oman are on rise.

Source : The Economic Times, Dated 29th June 2009.