Dubai billionaire offers to hire 3,000 laid-off Indian workers in Saudi

An Indian billionaire based in Dubai has offered to hire up to 3,000 Indian workers who lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia, it was reported on Wednesday.

Chairman and managing director of RP Group of Companies Ravi Pillai made the offer following reports that thousands of workers in the kingdom faced a ‘food crisis’ after not being paid.

“As a mark of our support to the Indian workers who have lost their jobs, RP Group of Companies will recruit 3,000 workers who are skilled in mechanical trade,” Pillai told local website Emirates24|7.

“Workers with experience in various aspects of mechanical trade can contact the office of RP Group of Companies at the earliest.

“We will also continue to explore opportunities to accommodate more of the unemployed workers in our companies,” he added.

India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj has appealed to an estimated three million Indians living in Saudi for help.

“Large number of Indians have lost their jobs in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The employers have not paid wages, closed down their factories,” she tweeted on Saturday.

“The number of Indian workers facing food crisis in Saudi Arabia is over ten thousand.”

Read more: India to bring back workers facing ‘food crisis’ in Saudi

On Wednesday, junior Indian foreign minister Vijay Kumar Singh arrived in the kingdom to help repatriate laid off Indian workers stranded in the kingdom.

He said on Twitter that he had arrived in Jeddah and begun meeting with the Indian consulate there.

Read more here:Indian minister visits Saudi to repatriate 10,000 stranded workers