Non-resident Indians in the United Arab Emirates account for at least 65 per cent of the high net worth category of individuals in the emira...

Non-resident Indians in the United Arab Emirates account for at least 65 per cent of the high net worth category of individuals in the emirates, according to a survey by Barclays International. Barclays classified an HNW in the UAE as having $200,000 or more in investable assets; this is considerably less than the Merrill Lynch/CapGemini World Wealth Report, which sets a threshold of $1 million. Arab nationals came second accounting for some 30 per cent of the HNW category and the remaining 5 per cent was made up of all nationalities. The World Wealth Report said the number of millionaires in the UAE has gone up to 52,800 in 2004 from 47,000 in 2003 and 45,000 in 2002, a rise of 12.3 per cent, which is higher than the US, which posted a growth of 9.8 per cent. The UAE controls 10 per cent of the world's oil supply, which has meant a significant windfall for the economy on the back of rising oil prices. And despite a diversification of the emirates’ economies in recent years, 30 per cent of the UAE’s GDP still comes from oil exports. The majority of the region’s millionaires are based in Dubai, which has one of the highest concentrations of wealthy individuals in the world. But 90 per cent of the city’s workforce are foreign nationals and the majority of these are from the Indian sub-continent.