The Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector of the Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai, issued 2,459 new licenses in March 2019, a growth of 35.4% compared to March 2018 (1,816). The new licenses created 9,661 jobs in the labor market. Among the new licenses issued, 58% were commercial, 39.3% professional, 1.9% related to tourism and 0.8% industry.

The ‘Business Map’ digital platform of DED, which seeks to reflect economic realities in Dubai by providing vital data on each license category including their numbers and distribution on a monthly basis, saw 27,531 business registration and licensing transactions being completed in the month of March 2019, a growth of 4.9% compared to March 2018 (26,257).

The report showed that License Renewal accounted for 13,112 transactions in March 2019, a growth of 3.5% compared to March 2018 (12,671), while 6,125 transactions were related to Auto Renewal via text messages.

During the month of March 2019, the number of Trade Name Reservations was 3,656, a growth of 11.4% compared to March 2018 (3,281), while the number of Initial Approvals reached 2,921, and the number of Commercial Permits reached 1,677 permit. BRL also issued 190 instant licenses, while DED Trader licenses rose from 179 licenses in March 2018 to 226 licenses in March 2019, up 26.3%.

The outsourced service centres of DED issued17,770  transactions, a growth of 64.5% of the total BRL transactions issued in March 2019 (27,531), thus demonstrating their vital role in delivering value-added services to the public in Dubai.

The report also showed that the top nationalities who secured licenses in March 2019 were: India, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, China, Jordan, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Canada and France.

The report also highlighted the distribution of new licenses in March 2019 in the main areas in Dubai, with Bur Dubai accounting for the largest share (1,368), followed by Deira (1,088), and Hatta (3). The top sub-regions that accounted for 59.8% of all the transactions were: Burj Khalifa (19.9%), Port Saeed (7.1%), Al Khabaisi (6.4%), World Trade Centre 1 (5.3%), Al Barsha 1 (4.5%), Al Marar (4.2%), Umm Al Romool (3.6%), Naif (3.4%), Al Garhoud (2.8%), and Al Muraqqabat (2.6%).

Trade & repair services accounted for 31.3% of the new licenses issued in March 2019 according to the distribution of economic activities, followed by real estate, leasing & business services (27.7%), building & construction (14.1%), community & personal services (10.6%), hotels group (5.5%), transport, storage & communications (4.5%), manufacturing (2.3%), financial brokerage (1.5%), health & labour (1.4%), education (0.6%), and agriculture (0.5%).