An insight into Kuwait – II

I would like to present a few more interesting observations on my visit to Kuwait.

Being an oil rich country and plenty of money people here move to west provided they know English well. There are lots of US Schools across all level. Many say US is a waning super power but I don’t think it is. They have so much presence all over the globe that one cannot stop admiring their strategies in World Diplomacy. All the gulf countries have American troops stationed as well as air bases. US has established universities across Gulf and most of the Gulf countries recognize degrees of US and that encourages people here to move to US. This definitely boosts US economy because of the amount of spending power these people have.

There are lots Indians working over here in Hotels. They are paid well. Most of them go once per year to their home town during July August. The summer will be at its peak during these months and not many visitors come to Kuwait. Many locals proceed to Europe to take a break from the summer.

Many Indians are working in the government sector as well. There are good number of Indian entrepreneurs who have built their empire in Kuwait and they mostly employ Indians. There are associations like Kannada koota, Tulu koota, Shirva association, Konkani koota, Canara Welfare association, Bunts koota and many more. They conduct regular programs and it binds them being far away from home land. Indians cannot buy any property here but salaries are tax free. In the entire Gulf Dubai is the only place where other country citizens can buy property.

Indian government shares a good rapport with the Kuwait government since ages. In 1950s Kuwait people relied heavily on selling pearls to Indian people and that was their main revenue. Oil driven economy was absent then. Japan started producing artificial pearls and they began flooding the Indian market making it impossible for Kuwaiti to sell pearls which had a huge impact on their economy. Nehru then Prime Minister took a decision to ban the import of Japanese pearls to assist Kuwaiti. Till 1960s Indian currency was the currency in use in most of the Gulf countries. That speaks a lot about the relationship between India and Gulf.

I had mentioned that 2/3rd of the people here in Kuwait are expatriates. The population of Kuwaitis is increasing and they are finding it difficult to get jobs here. Kuwait Government is initiating measures to provide them jobs. For example, Banks have to mandatorily provide 50% jobs for Kuwaitis and this percentage in all likely will be increased shortly. These days’ people from other countries are finding it difficult to get to Kuwait to work here. Strict measures are in place to control the flow of expatriates.

It is not the case that all are born rich here. 25 - 30 % are very rich and the rest have decent employment. The lifestyle is such that whatever they earn they spend it. Because of this spending power the economy is strong.

We pay 50 Rs per litre of Petrol. Any guess how much it costs in Kuwait. A mere 10 Rs per litre. No wonder one can find a million vehicles on road here. Power is generated in excess using the oil produced locally. Water is generated from desalination. All the other items are imported.

On the last day of our visit we went to Udupi restaurant with Mr. James Tellis to have lunch and it was really good.

With this I conclude my write up on the visit to Kuwait. It was a great experience. Thanks to Mr Ramesh Karnik sir who accompanied me and was a rich source of information. Mr Satish Chandra Shetty, Indian entrepreneur in Kuwait (Managing Director of Oriental Restaurant & Confectionery) was with us for most part of our visit and was extremely helpful.A special thanks to him.

An insight into Kuwait

Its been 5 days since my arrival in Kuwait. I was pretty keen on this visit as it provided me an opportunity to know more about the middle east countries. In fact the visit enabled me to know more than expected. I would like to share my thoughts over here.

Kuwait is an oil rich country. The country has world’s 5th largest oil reserves which contribute close to 80% to the government revenue. They have the highest Human development index in the Arab world (31st in the world, India has a rank of 134). The per capita income is US$60,800 (Rs 28 lakhs appr) making it the 5th richest country in the world. It has a population of 30 lakhs and 60-70% population comprises of expatriates from Asia (Indian population in Kuwait is 6 lakh), other Arab countries and Palestinians.

Any gulf country whether its UAE, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Kuwait have all excellent infrastructure in terms of 6 to 8 lane roads, huge buildings, uninterrupted power supply, very good per capita income and Kuwait is no exception. We met few Indians who have worked the hard way to set up industries over here and have employed many Indians. You can find lots of Asians (Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Malaysians) working across different levels. But majority of them are employed by locals here for jobs which include house maids, hotel waiters, chefs, cleaners, drivers. At a lower level an employee earns some 100 KD(Kuwaiti Dinar) per month which is roughly equivalent to 16000Rs in India (1KD= 160Rs). A mid level employee earns 200-400 KD (32000 – 60000Rs). Majority of them work here for 9 to 10 months an year and take leave for few months to return to their country and come back. Very few come with their family (low and midlevel employees) to Kuwait as the cost of living is very high over here. I just went through a newspaper and got to know that a MRI scan will cost some 30000Rs which is exorbitantly high.

The country for a population of 30 lak has 10 lak vehicles. You can hardly find any bikes. Infact I just found 4 two wheelers during my stay here. Cars and SUVs dominate the roads. All are high end vehicles. Sometimes I wonder how companies like GM or Chrysler can file for bankruptcy given the number of high end cars in Gulf :-)

Kuwaitis speak Arabic. Islamic laws are in place but it is not certainly as rigid as UAE. People here say the country is liberal next only to Dubai. Kuwait gave permission for women to vote a few years back and last year a few women got elected to Parliament. On the Valentine ‘s day I read an article in a local daily conveying that its not wrong to celebrate Valentine’s day. That’s a good progress. Alcohol is banned in Kuwait.

Kuwait was completely annexed by Saddam led Iraqi forces in 1990. They also set most of the oil wells on fire before US intervened to help Kuwait. I was discussing the issue with one of the locals here and he made an interesting comparision between Kuwait and Iraq. Both are oil rich countries. When it comes to sharing of revenues with the common man Kuwait is different from Iraq. Saddam never gave it back to his citizens where as Kuwait did. Saddam had a 1 million army for a population of 3 crore which is very huge (Indians for a population of 100 plus crores have 1.5 million people serving in navy, army and air force). He gave an account on the poverty in Iraq when he said that during the invasion of Kuwait a soldier of Iraq barged into a shopping mall and was struggling to open a perfume bottle. At the end he broke the bottle and smeared it all over his body. It might be an isolated incident but it did convey a silent message.

Coming to the cost of living factor, a tea / coffee at a decent hotel cost 50 – 60 Rs. Lunch ranges from 200 Rs to 1000Rs. Phone calls are costly as well. Per minute call to India is around 35Rs. Hotels don’t serve water. We need to purchase water every time.:-)There are good number of Indian restaurants which are good and economical as well.

We visited Kuwait Towers which is a symbol of hope for the people of this region. It is stunning. One can have a spectacular view of the entire city from the top of the tower. The city sleeps late and the shopping malls will be opened till midnight.

These are my few observations on Kuwait. Thanks for the patient reading..