Pensions for Indian workers in UAE

Indian diplomatic missions in the UAE have recently soft launched an Indian Government-sponsored ambitious pension and resettlement scheme for Indian workers.

The scheme gains relevance in the wake of a recent survey among low-and middle-income Indian expatriates in the Gulf states about their saving habits, which found that 95 per cent of them would not be able to continue the same comfortable life, if they were to go back home.

As Gulf News reported recently of the 10,100 respondents, about 34 per cent do not save money at all from their income. The remaining two-thirds claim they regularly save money but not for any productive purposes which would give them a regular income.

The increasing cost of living in the GCC and loans taken by them to pay agents in India for visas to get to the Gulf also affects their ability to save, according to the survey conducted by Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust, a UAE based welfare organisation of Indians.

A small number of workers have joined the scheme after the recent soft launch but the enrolment is expected to go up after its official launch in October, a top diplomat told Gulf News yesterday.

The scheme will be actively promoted among workers after the official launch that will be done in the presence of dignitaries from Government of India, M.K Lokesh, Indian Ambassador to the UAE