Dubai DED issues 13,825 new licences in first 9 months of 2018

Dubai: The Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector of the Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai, issued 13,825 new licences in the first nine months of 2018

Among the new licences issued, 61.2 per cent were commercial, 36.4 per cent professional, 1.2 per cent related to tourism and 1.1 per cent were industrial, according to the latest statistical report from DED Dubai.

The ‘Business Map’ digital platform of DED saw 204,319 business registrations and licensing transactions being completed in the first nine months of 2018. The report showed that the top nationalities that secured licences in the first nine months of 2018 were India and Pakistan, followed by Britain, Egypt and France.

In the first nine months of 2018, BRL issued 840 instant licenses that took less than five minutes to be issued. The instant license is issued in a single step without the need for either an MOA (Memorandum of Association) or an existing location for the first year only.

The Business Map showed that Licence Renewal and Modification accounted for 23,963 transactions in the first nine months of 2018, while 24,208 were related to Licence Modification, 80,168 for Licence Renewal and 1,350 for Certificates. The number of Trade Name Reservations reached 26,040, while the number of Initial Approvals totalled 17,864.

The 27 outsourced service centres of DED continued to witness robust activity in the first nine months of 2018, accounting for 149,603 transactions; Tasheel — Al Twar accounted for 49,649 transactions followed by Tasheel — Al Barsha (12,756), Twasol Businessmen Services — Al Muraqqabat (12,089), Emirates Professional Business Centre (11,688), and Itqan Businessmen Services (10,157).

The Auto Renewal service of DED, which takes less than two minutes via a text message, recorded 34,410 transactions in the first nine months of 2018, or 43 per cent of total renewed licenses (80,168).

The report highlighted the distribution of the new licences in the first nine months of 2018 according to the main areas in Dubai, with Bur Dubai accounting for the largest share (7,628), followed by Deira (6,156), and Hatta (41).

Among economic activities, Contracting Services topped new licenses in the first nine months of 2018, followed by Consulting — Management and Information, Maintenance of Buildings, Security Guards and Cleaning, Readymade Garments Group, Cleaning Services, Restaurants & Cafes, Electronics, Food Trade, Mechanical & Engineering Equipment Trade and Transport, Shipment and Storage.