Indians flee Dubai as dreams crash
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 3:30:00 AM
N Raghuraman / DNA
It’s the great escape by Indians who’ve hit the dead-end in Dubai .
Local police have found at least 3,000 automobiles — sedans, SUVs, regulars — abandoned outside Dubai International Airport in the last four months. Police say most of the vehicles had keys in the ignition, a clear sign they were left behind by owners in a hurry to take flight.
The global economic crisis has brought Dubai ’s economic progress, mirrored by its soaring towers and luxurious resorts, to a stuttering halt. Several people have been laid off in the past months after the realty boom started unraveling.
On the night of December 31, 2008 alone more than 80 vehicles were found at the airport. “Sixty cars were seized on the first day of this year,” director general of Airport Security, Mohammed Bin Thani, told DNA over the phone. On the same day, deputy director of traffic, colonel Saif Mohair Al Mazroui, said they seized 22 cars abandoned at a prohibited area in the airport.
Faced with a cash crunch and a bleak future ahead, there were no goodbyes for the migrants — overwhelmingly South Asians, mostly Indians - just a quiet abandoning of the family car at the airport and other places.
While 2,500 vehicles have been found dumped in the past four months outside Terminal III, which caters to all global airlines, Terminal II, which is only used by Emirates Airlines, had 160 cars during the same period.
“The construction and real estate industry has been hit following the global slowdown and the direct fallout is that professionals working in the realty industry are rapidly losing their jobs,” said a senior media professional, in-charge of a realty supplement in Dubai . “In fact, my weekly real estate supplement usually had 60% advertisement and ran into 300-odd pages. In the last seven weeks, it’s down to 80 pages and with fewer advertisments,” he added.
Mumbai resident D Nair (name changed) had been living in a plush highrise in Sharjah for the past four years. However, the script went horribly wrong when his contract was terminated. Nair used all his credit cards to their maximum limit, shopping for people back home. He then discarded his Honda Accord before returning to India for good. Nair, who stays in a rented apartment in Navi Mumbai today, has a Rs15 lakh loan with a Dubai bank.
Another such victim of the meltdown said he bid goodbye to his car in a small bylane near the airport and hailed a cab. “I was scared because a number of us were doing the same and did not want to be questioned by the police. There was no way I could afford to pay the EMI of 1100 Dhirams for my Ford Focus,” he told DNA on condition of anonymity.
When contacted, the dealer for Asgar Ali cars in Sharjah said, “We are helpless and do not know how to tackle this issue. A large number of such owners are from Indian, Sri Lanka , Bangladesh and other South Asian countries.”
WHY DOHA NOT AFFECTED??????????????
Hard Work Doesn't Kill Anyone... But Why take Chances.
At Atif242: I totally Agree, most expats totally forgot that Dubai doesn't have "back-up" in case of crisis unlike Abdu Dhabi which also suffers but less of the crisis
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the lux cars are sold in cash or banks....
Many banks are on run.....and liquidate stage in US, UK and even in ME (local banks are govt owned, arranged internal mergers like Emirates Bank with NBD)....
The Recession is not as worst as thought and is believed to be over. This is proof by more luxury cars being sold last year than ever before?
The recession is global.. A friend in the USA lost his job in December and is now struggling to pay his mortgage after selling two cars already.
My own sister in the UK has been switched to a three day week by her company and salary decreased by 20%.
Let us be grateful for what we have......
THis is BAd.. If Dubai faced this...
Can't iMAGINE SITUATION AT AMerica... the Epicenter of recession....
Hard Work Doesn't Kill Anyone... But Why take Chances.
Yep BritExpat.. They are all leaving on the boat and waiting in the Arabian Sea for the recovery so they can head back..
That can be said to be true for many expatriates all over the world..
They were "surprised" by the speed of the downturn and fled oweing money.
is that right in your opinion ????
Govt of UAE should analyse the current scenario and should protect expatriates interest immediately, who had invested billions of Dollars in creating and making of Dubai a paradise in desert rather penalsing them with imprisonment.
We all know that this financial crisis will not stay for ever, but no-Govt support will leave a bad scar on the heart of UAE expats and a very good lesson learned in the worst manner.
As Britexpat mentioned that they will return once its over, yes bcoz UAE is the most closest, safe, tax free developed nation and more than a second home for Asia Sub-continent Expats
Sorry to hear about Asians running away from DUBAI without paying their debts but guys u might agree with me that for the past 1-2 decades, Dubai people has seen only WEALTH & DEVELOPMENT. Due to this continuous rise, the people forgot that they might see downturn in Dubai's Economy. Therefore, they just spent money on themselves or back home without any check.
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Being Muslim, we all must have "NEUTRAL" attitude in all aspects of our lives. Excess in almost anything brings disastrous results. So guys, we should all be thankful to GOD ALMIGHTY that Qatar was not effected like DUBAI but we shouldn't be ignorant instead we should prepare ourselves for worst as RECESSION hasn't ended at all.
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May GOD help all of us through this crucial time.
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**In order to be someone, you must first be yourself.**
The saddest / funniest thing is that most of these expats will try to be back as soon as the recovery begins..
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Boycott Israel Campaign
Well it's a majority in that small arab land
"Return Flight to Tunisia @ 540 $ with Turkish Airlines THY.com travel by 15/06/09"
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I agreed with speed comments.In a country where labour law supports only locals,no job bann for local but job bann of six months for expatriates if he/she resigns or gets termination by the company.what is this stupid and inhuman rule by uae labour law???how he/she survive without earnings,how family will be feeded??Locals are super human beings and others are their slaves.keeping their passports and mentally torturing the employees.who speaks arabic,will get good managerial job even his qualification and experience is lesser than other deserving non-arab employee.Gulf is a land of Descriminations and imbalances of human rights.rules become different when local arab appears in .They are nothing without expatriates who work there and make economy.This is a small lesson for arabs.It will happen again and again in any country where banks are standing over Interest/mark-ups and distributing money like tofees and cakes.Once these things are digested,only comes out the shit.Are gulf banks chasing and searching for shits???how much arabs became greedy and increasing the rents without having sympathy for average salary people and labour sleeping over roofs in hot weather while showing the world raising world's tallest building(burj dubai). how someone says that banks will chase and catch the debtor in his own homeland??first of all he left the country boundaries where he signed the contract of loan or CC. Rules of that land are powerless in other country.secondly, a debt collection company can request the debtor to pay the amount by increasing psychological anxiety only.but the company can not take him back to gulf to put him into prison.Now the debtor has its own citizenship rights and can file a case against that company which is harrasing him.He can refuse for any document he signed in gulf or any country and throw his passport in dustbin as he never went out of his homeland.Body and faces get change medically after 6 months so the photo was in passport or real photo of more than one year old can be easily challenged.He can produce witnesses who will say in court that he never gone out of the country in his whole life.Similarly there are lot of things happening so its better to deal with them nicely and make instalments after mutual deal.To give money is foolishness but to take money back is wisdom.I am not favouring people who take out money but concentrating to why they take out money.Same people had been excellent customers for banks for many years and the banks were increasing/doubling their credit limits bcaz of the excellent repayments by these clients.Why these clients did not run away from the last many years???many of them living in gulf for the last 5,10,20-25 years then what happened suddenly???for this situation,local Arabs,their descrimination,their inhuman labour laws,banks blindly distributing money,showing tax free country but rents,fees,charges,fines etc are more than the taxes.No free medical and education,no social benefits.Health card is only for stamping visa.Banks charge credit shield in the statements,job loss insurance but all lies.All these factors make the state responsible who is governing such laws and inhuman ethics.If jobless person thinks that he will pass 6 months bann,cancelling and sending back to home his family,finish the apartment/villa,finish the children school in Dubai,do u think that he will be free of all liabilities of his family back to home?? Are u sure he will get job immediately after six months???who is responsible for the six months gap?did he committ murder,terrorism,theft,fight,firing,defaulting.then why he had been punished for 6 months doing nothing but paying for himself and for his family.and if he caught working during bann period,he is straight away deported.What is this country???I think some people were also looking for the chance to take revenge of what they lost becaz of the above mentioned humilating factors.before 5 years and so on the situation was different.rules were not tight and greediness among local arabs were not that much.banks were not throwing money.thats why people spent a large portion of their lives in gulf states.Give debtors a chance to pay back by their own otherwise ask from those who got travel bann in gulf and now are in gulf jails,could bank be able to recover money from them???At least those debtors who unwantedly run away before travel bann has survival chance with their families and definitely will be trying to pay off their bills gradually.It now depends upon banks how wisely,nicely and softly they contact and follow up with debtors .
Dubai recently changed its media laws to make it a crime to publish anything that would harm the reputation of Dubai, or harm the economy of Dubai. Hence now there is a complete black out on stories in the local papers talking about how bad things have got over there.
I read in a Financial Times article that the number of cars dumped at the airport has hit 3000.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_and_The_Courts/10282898.html
Dubai: Lieutenant-General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police, has strongly denied a rumour that many people are abandoning their cars at Dubai International Airport amid the global economic crisis.
The report was published in the Arabic electronic newspaper Elaph.com.
During an urgent press conference in Dubai, Lieutant-General Dhahi denied the report published on Thursday, which based its information on The Times of London which claimed there were 3,000 abandoned cars at Dubai International Airport.
"I swear by the Lord that Benyamin [writer of the article] lied even as he based his report on The Times article," Lieutant-General Dhahi said at the beginning of the press conference.
The reporter contributed to spreading a rumour that many people are greedy, envious and resentful about the economic growth of Dubai, he said.
"A reporter should always verify the facts of a report. Did the reporter come back to us or request a comment and we said 'No' to him?! Credibility, objectivity and accountability are essential in journalism and this report lacked credibility.
"Be assured that if we had at least 50 or 25 or 15 cars abandoned at the airport, I would have told you about it. There have only been 11 cars left at the airport since January 1, 2008, which is before the global economic crisis," he said.
"False statements on the market collapsing, as stated in the article, are nothing but incorrect rumours. If there is any disruption we will inform the media about it," said Lieutant-General Dhahi.
"It is not even worth a story to write about the abandoning of 11 cars in a 6,000 car parking lot," he stated.
"We are not denying the presence of the global financial crisis, but what's been attributed to Dubai is completely false whether it is locally or internationally published. There is a fierce campaign against the reputation of the blooming city of Dubai.
I have clear and direct instructions from His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to be completely honest with the media."
"The country is still witnessing a smooth flow in its economy. The title of the article creates an atmosphere of fear, mistrust, and contributes to spreading a rumour of a rumour. We have to put a limit to this, we are aware of the reports published on this but now it has gotten out of proportion," he said.
Recision is badly hitted in Dubai as there are lots of companies struggle to continue. Lots of people left their jobs and went in their home country. Now Taxi drivers, schools etc are also struggling to get the peoples.
The best part of UAE is there is no EXIT PERMIT system.(I think most of the country doesnt have the system as far as I know Oman, Bahrain also doesnt have any EXIT PERMIT). So the people are going without informing to the sponser or companies.
If she ran away to the USA, she probably doesn't care.
one of my collegue filipina (who was in exec position) ran away to USA,now she is blacklisted and cannot enter
any Gulf country
It is happening now here in Doha. Just observe parking lots near the airport area, shopping malls, markets (FFC, Al Meera, The Center, etc...) you will see abandoned cars gathering dust and tires semi if not totally deflated.
I pity those people who run from their loans here thinking that the lending institutions here will not run after them.
I know a person who took out a loan here and then ran away to his homeland. Now he is also in hiding in his country because suddenly a representatives of the bank came to his house with the police. He was not at home at that time. He has since been hiding and gets to speak to his family just once a month because he is afraid of being tracked down.
"Stealing" this word does not offend Indians. The Kohinoor diamond from India was stolen and never returned. Stealing brains from India, "Brain Drain" is still common. Anyways, why some people are adamant that Indians should get all hyped and may be defensive because of this article. Ha.
Does anybody know the nationality of the author of the article.?
Should not have narrowed it down to Indians, everyone is suffering over there. Scary times indeed.
Any topic can be moulded and interpreted in how you want to see and believe. Like certain topics always drag religion into them. Let's start with the fact that this is happening because of recession and who is to be blamed for it. Now, I can point my finger on anybody and remould the whole topic. So let's just not read between the lines and keep it straight.
I just think journalists should be more careful when writing about these sorts of things in case they give the impression that an entire country of people is willing to cheat and steal.
I'm sure there are plenty of people who would rather leave Dubai penniless than leave Dubai a thief.
cos I know my country cousins very well.
person without religion is corrupt. As muslims we are not allowed to take loans or use plastic money, these are the reasons- what if circumstances make you pauper, what if you are dead, what if you lose you job?
A debt is debt let it be 10 dirhams, enough to take us to hell
That's what makes it so confusing to me, Mom.
As I said above, the headline of the article refers *only* to Indians.
Secondly, if the article was just about the economic downturn in Dubai, why then are 7 or so of the article's 10 paragraphs about people dumping cars and not repaying loans?
Like I said in my first post, if you read between the lines this article (intentionally or unintentionally) paints a very poor picture of Indians leaving Dubai.
What little sympathy you may have for them losing their jobs is replaced by anger at how they are trying to steal every cent they can get their hands on from the bank.
If I was Indian I would be very offended by this article.
Yes it is unethical to steal etc. etc. but I am sure this article is not focusing on that. Anyways, Indians are not the only ones - remember Code of Hammurabi. There are laws for such people.
I think you're right, Mom. But...
If you were leaving Dubai because you lost your job and needed the money, wouldn't you SELL your car before going??
The only reason for not trying to sell the car, would be because you have a vehicle loan (and maybe also credit card debt and personal loans) so you have no incentive to pay.
The article seems to me to be focussed on thieving Indians who aren't bothering to pay back their debts before they leave.
And while it's bad enough to leave behind an unpaid car loan, I can't believe people would go and max out their credit cards too. Don't these people have any ethics?
I believe this article is aimed more at Indians fleeing Dubai rather than a few who are cheating.
stealing in classrooms, never returning library books
duping is part of our culture, we carry our culture wherever we go. As soon as we land first thing we do is take loan. No where in the world its easy to get loan
except Gulf countries, so we are here to loot from day one.
And ofcourse I am tempted to add.................SEE I TOLD YA....(http://www.qatarliving.com/node/339475)
D Nair and the likes are chased and punished by the police. In most cases the money is reterived back. Frauds of this nature are not new to gulf and the culprit is duly punished.
wow, if it was my airport, i'd sell them :P
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Lebanon... the love of my soul!
yea i know that but it was in Doha not in Dubai
still some more addition to that you can go and see.
Remember the ride on the LAND CRUISER?
Remember the ride on the LAND CRUISER?
when and where was that i dont remember
Scarlett, I'm probably reading too much into it. It's just that the article is titled 'Indians' flee Dubai... and then the article goes on to talk about Indians who have stolen money from the banks and fled back to India.
The article could have just been about how people from various backgrounds have found themselves in a position where it is no longer beneficial to remain in Dubai, but that would be true of people from all sorts of backgrounds.
I'm troubled by the casual nature that the people in the article talk about the theft of money via unpaid bank loans and credit card debts. It's almost as if they think that flying into another country will mean that they leave all their debts behind and no one will ever catch up with them. I guess they forgot that to get the bank account they had to give their passport copy to the bank.
They will be caught, the assets seized, and if they can't repay the loans, they will (hopefully) be jailed, as they deserve.
things domino so fast, especially in the financial department. Living within your means is the ONLY way to go...
Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked,the good fortune to run into the ones I do,and the eyesight to tell the difference.
but the domino effect of these bad debts will surely worsen the present situation. Interest of these bad loans will surely affect the bank and the financial institution as a whole. Insurance and agents will run after these people in their home countries and again, pushing a lot of people to extreme pressures to repay.
Now is really the time for belt-tightening. Need to live within our means and try not to overshoot our budgets. Hope the light at the end of this dark tunnel is nearer than we think!
"dgoodrebel will always be the rebellious good one"
Indians, fubar..perhaps you are reading it with a biased slant. What I read was that some folks are in a really tight bind and can't figure any way out, so they abandon their cars and leave the country so that they aren't stuck with no income and a family to feed...can't do that while in jail!!
I find the trick of running credit cards up to the max, totally wrong from anyone!! I know of a lady in the States that did that before she divorced her husband...bought all sorts of clothing and lingerie to wear with her new boyfriend and took a trip with the guy...then had the divorce papers delivered to the hubby. (Knowing him, I know he wasn't innocent either but doing what she did was really a bad wrong to top the original wrong)
I feel for the folks that have gotten caught up in the financial crunch. Its happening back in the States at an alarming rate and its starting here in the Middle East as well. Hopefully things will settle back down soon, for everyone's sake!!
Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked,the good fortune to run into the ones I do,and the eyesight to tell the difference.
is fine under the current circumstances only,
but misusing by taking off the full credit limit is a legal offence and cheating.
These guys must not be aware that UAE Banks have private recovery agents in India, Pakistan, and other asian countries too, they will barge into their and their friends houses (references) soon to claim their monies back.
What an awful article, portraying Indians as thieving, dishonest people who are stealing money from the banks and then fleeing the country leaving unpaid debts.
Given that there are millions of Indians in Dubai, why write an article about how 80 people have been stealing money? And is there really a need to imply that Indians don't care that they are stealing money from the banks, and that it's somehow okay to walk away from their financial obligations?
The bad news is that if this has become such a problem in Dubai, then we can all stop expecting the exit permit system to be removed. If the banks start losing more and more money to people stealing from them, perhaps we should expect the exit permit system to become more difficult?
Perhaps in future your sponsor will have to guarentee all your loans, and if you flee the country your sponsor will owe the bank. If that's the case, what sponsor will give their staff exit permits?
Banks should do all they can to track down these theives once they leave the country and have the money recovered.
Speed....I accept the "flee part" with u completely..But extracting everything out of the credit card deliberately and running away is bad..Sad itz my people..
Shit happens. But it saddened me more while others suffering from Cash Flows, others unscrupulous individuals took advantage of the situations by encashing more of their Credit Cards and then escaping their debts after.
Poor banks.
I ahve advised everybody I know for years now to seriously think twice about loans , car loans ,credit cards,any kind of debt ,,,then think again.Live within your means .
Oldfashioned principal, but the way I was brought up.
Country with loans?
I have lived in UAE for 30yrs I know how difficult it is if you have loan liabilities from different banks... I myself was stuck in this horrible 'LOAN' situation for several years...
This is how Dubai Credit Card and Loans system works...
No doubt the banks offer attractive promotions to it's customers and most of the offers are really beneficial.
Like some years back Citibank started it's promotion with 'Emirates Skyward points' ... if you apply for basic card you will get 15000 skywards points, if you apply for silver the points shoots to 25000 and gold was 35000 skywards points. I earned lots of skywards point which I redeemed against Emirates ticket and traveled to different Countries for FREE :-)
To apply for ANY credit card in UAE from ANY BANK you don't need to provide your salary certificate .. just a bank statement or payslip of the current month with passport copy... similarly same conditions were for personal loans and car loans .... and the money is in your account within 1 week.
This is just one example, there were several attractive promotions...
Tell me who will not like to benefit for such promotions.. but once you are into Loans ... you are trapped ... it is very difficult to come out due to other financial commitments (for majority of people)..
I am not saying everyone was same but majority for people from all over the world were into some kind of loan or loans in UAE.
Now since lots of Companies (specially constructions and real estates) are closing down and they are turning THOUSANDS of employees ... and lot other companies have already ceased their recruitment ... where the hell these people will go ?
If the bank comes to know that they have lost their jobs, banks will immediately freeze their exit from the Country, they cannot exit from any of the UAE cities because of centralized immigration control in the Country.
If I was in their place I would have done the same.
but since I owe the money to the bank .. I fell that it is my sole responsibility to return the money to the bank only once I find a new job anywhere in the world !
PS:
QatarIt... it's not cheating ... most of them flee the Country due the fear of landing in Jail ,., who will look after their families .. if he does not find a suitable job from where he will pay the Loan or Loans??
[img_assist|nid=53652|title=|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=|height=0]
Whatever goes up has to ..........at some point.
so let face the music!
Our forefathers taught us to spread our legs within the size of our cover sheets; whoever go beyond the limits, would surely got hit from the credit crunch.
Resident Permit holders in the UAE don't need an exit permit, so it's no problem to leave any time.
1. How did so many manage to leave...without paying the car loan?
2. Were the Banks napping?
The only possible way they must have gone is asked for emergency leave, drove to the airport, parked their cars, took the flight and then never returned.
So be very carefull of people going on emergency leave especially when they have car loans.
There could also have been many who would not have been successful in selling off his (fully paid off) car due to the short time limit of the One-Family-One-Villa rule.
Similar thread:
http://www.qatarliving.com/node/339475
It is horrible-but I understand why they just leave. If they were to stay they'd get stuck in Dubai-not able to leave-no job-no money-and these loans. What other choice is there? If you have no job how could you pay the loans? Hopefully when they find work in the future they'll contact the lendors and pay off the debt-that's the honorable thing to do.
But cheating is unacceptable..
Shiat Happens all the time. They still do the same in Doha airport parking lots.
Darude took me in a tour one night and we saw about five cars park with 4 inches of dust.
It's very sad for everyone, but I don't much like the fact that the one man in the story maxed out his credit cards and then deliberately ran out on his debts. It's not the merchants' or the banks' fault he lost his job. It was a dishonorable thing to do and he will make it harder for other expats to get credit.
Mandi
good time to buy cars :)
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dubai is really affected by the global crisis... most of the real estate were down affecting their employee to be laid off and too often salary has been delayed for 2 months...