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.