Dubai issues 55,194 new business licences during the first 10 months of 2021

There were 55,194 new business licences issued during the first 10 months of 2021, according to a report by the Business Registration and Licensing sector at Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism.

The figure marks a 69 per cent increase over the same period in 2020 when 32,626 licences were issued.

According to the report, 59 per cent of the new business licences issued were professional, and 41 per cent were commercial.

Bur Dubai accounted for the largest share (37,562) of these new licences, followed by Deira (17,572), and Hatta (60).

The top sub-regions during the first ten months of 2021 were: Al Fahidi, Burj Khalifa, Port Saeed, Al Marrar, Trade Centre 1, Qubaisi, Al Barsha 1, Naif, Al Garhoud and Al Karama.

Among the legal forms of the new licences issued, the report showed that sole establishment companies topped the list with 38 per cent, followed by limited liability companies at 28 per cent and civil companies at 24 per cent.

The legal forms also included: one-person limited liability companies, branches of companies based in other emirates; branches of foreign companies; branches of free zone companies; branches of gcc companies, general partnership companies; public shareholding companies; and private joint-stock companies.

The report saw 233,908 business registration and licensing transactions completed during the first ten months of 2021, a growth of 17 per cent compared to the same period in 2020, when total transactions reached 199,888.

The total number of renewal transactions reached 120,120, up 3 per cent over the first ten months of 2020 (117,030).

The number of Initial approvals reached 1,703, an increase of 44 per cent compared to the same period last year (1,184), while commercial Permits also increased 9 per cent from 4,709 during the first ten months of 2020 to 5,141 in the same period of 2021.

In February, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched a ‘Invest in Dubai’ platform on Tuesday which will enable investors to obtain trade licences and launch their business in only a few minutes.

Read: Sheikh Mohammed launches ‘Invest in Dubai’ platform to ease process of establishing businesses