Emirates NBD has received all regulatory and governmental approvals, including clearance from the Indian government, for its acquisition of a majority stake in RBL Bank, paving the way for the completion of what it described as one of the most significant cross-border investments in India’s financial services sector.

The deal, first announced on October 18, 2025, involves an investment of approximately $3bn, or about INR268.5bn.

Emirates NBD said the transaction represents the largest equity fundraise in India’s banking sector and the acquisition of a majority interest in a profitable Indian bank by a foreign banking institution.

Under the agreement, Emirates NBD will subscribe to up to 959,045,636 fully paid equity shares in RBL Bank at 280 rupees per share through a preferential issue, representing approximately 60 per cent of RBL’s post-issue paid-up share capital.

Final shareholding is expected to range between 51 to 74 per cent

The lender said its final shareholding is expected to range between 51 per cent and 74 per cent, subject to applicable foreign ownership limits and the completion of a mandatory open offer process.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates NBD, said: “Emirates NBD continues to accelerate development across our network and deepen our presence in high-potential regional markets such as India.

“The successful accomplishment of this milestone acquisition underscores the strategic and long-standing relationship with the country, mirroring the UAE’s own strategic and business cooperation. We look forward to expanding our presence in the nation and serving our customers by unlocking the next chapter of Emirates NBD’s growth and impact.”

The transaction also envisages the eventual amalgamation of Emirates NBD’s India branch operations in Mumbai, Chennai and Gurugram into RBL Bank, subject to additional regulatory approvals.

Upon completion, Emirates NBD will be classified as the promoter of RBL Bank, which will operate as a foreign bank subsidiary under the Reserve Bank of India framework.

Emirates NBD had total assets of Dhs1.2tn as of March 31, 2026, equivalent to approximately $327bn, and serves more than 10 million active customers across 13 countries.

Abu Dhabi technology group G42 and the government of India have formalised commercial and operational terms for the deployment of Condor Galaxy India, an 8-exaflop artificial intelligence supercomputing cluster that will rank among India’s most powerful AI compute systems.

The agreement was witnessed by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Modi’s official state visit to Abu Dhabi, reaffirming the UAE-India digital infrastructure memorandum of understanding signed in 2024.

The supercomputing cluster will comprise 64 Cerebras Systems CS-3 systems and is expected to serve as a foundational asset for India’s sovereign AI ambitions.

Under the framework, G42, in partnership with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), will oversee the installation, deployment, operations and maintenance of the system.

The companies said the infrastructure would support joint research and development across sectors, including health and genomics, energy and geospatial analytics, while enabling researchers, institutions and startups in both countries to advance scientific research.

“India is one of the world’s great innovation economies,” Mansoor Al Mansoori, chief executive of G42 International, said in a statement. “Deploying an instance of G42’s Intelligence Grid at this scale in such an important geography is what AI-native transformation looks like in practice. We are delivering infrastructure that converts energy and compute into sovereign-governed nation-scale intelligence.”

The deployment expands the existing partnership between G42 and Cerebras, which currently operates several supercomputing clusters in the US through the Condor Galaxy network, extending that footprint into India.

The Office of HE Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahyan has announced the publication of Tenacity: The UAE’s Finest Hour, a new book by internationally renowned businessman and bestselling author Augie K Fabela II.

Published by Motivate Media Group, the book documents the first 31 days of the Iranian attacks of 2026 and explores how the UAE responded during the period through leadership, resilience and national unity.

Fabela, who remained in Dubai throughout the conflict, presents an eyewitness account shaped by decades of experience operating across frontier and conflict-affected markets, including post-Soviet Russia and wartime Ukraine.

According to the publishers, the book reflects on the values that have long defined the UAE, including resilience, foresight, solidarity and commitment to progress amid global uncertainty.

HE Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahyan said: “Augie Fabela writes not as a distant commentator, but as a firsthand participant – one who chose to stay and stand in solidarity with the UAE. His unique perspective, as an eyewitness to a defining moment, captures our nation’s strength, vision, and tenacity.”

Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner and Group Editor-in-Chief at Motivate Media Group, added: “Tenacity is an important and timely book that documents a defining moment in the history of the UAE. Augie Fabela brings a rare perspective to the recent events – combining the instincts of a global business leader with the observations of someone who chose to remain in the UAE during the crisis.

“We are proud to publish a work that speaks so powerfully of the courage, solidarity and enduring spirit of the nation,” he added.

A graduate of Stanford University, Fabela is the Founder and Chairman of VEON, which serves 229 million customers across frontier markets. He became the youngest chairman of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange at the age of 30.

Tenacity: The UAE’s Finest Hour is now available through bookstores across the UAE and via Books Arabia and Amazon UAE.

Leading an organisation in the Gulf region right now requires a particular kind of clarity, not drawn from a crisis playbook but from something more fundamental: judgement built from proximity, relationships and a deep understanding of the region.

Leading through complexity

The UAE’s foundational institutions remain stable. Offices are open, and business continues across many sectors. Organisations are adapting, and their leaders are doing so while managing a complexity that is not always fully grasped from a distance. 

For those leading within international institutions, there is an additional dimension. Global headquarters are seeking clarity and reassurance, and the task of conveying the full texture of the situation across time zones rests with the leader on the ground. One recent conversation illustrates this well. I spoke with the regional head of an international bank, a senior leader managing a substantial operation while fielding calls from headquarters around the clock. She told me she was exhausted, not because of the situation itself, but because of the gap between what she was experiencing and what was visible from afar.

At the same time, every client conversation required its own careful judgement — the context of the relationship, the cultural moment, and the particular demands of the day all had to be weighed.

Her description of her organisation’s posture has stayed with me. “We are trying to conduct business as normally as possible. But we are doing so with restraint.” That is not a retreat; it is deliberate leadership.

What this moment demands of leaders

The first is presence. In uncertain times, employees do not need leaders who have all the answers; they need leaders who are visibly there. It is a quality that has been demonstrated from the top — the region’s leaders have remained visible and present among their communities throughout this period, setting an example that resonates across organisations of every kind. 

The executives navigating this environment most effectively are doing the same, physically present with their teams, accessible and engaged, asking the question that costs nothing and means everything: how are you?

Experienced leaders in this region have navigated uncertainty before, but the demands of this moment are immediate and close, and in these conditions, physical presence becomes a form of stability that no written update or virtual announcement can replace.

The second requirement is communication, and its absence is one of the most common failures. When employees begin to feel their organisation is out of touch with what they are experiencing, trust erodes quickly and does not return easily. Leaders do not need certainty to communicate, they need to acknowledge the reality their people are living, be clear about what the organisation stands for and be honest about what they do not yet know. Silence, however well intentioned, leaves employees feeling their organisation is either uninformed or disengaged.

The third requirement is restraint, and this is the quality most easily underestimated. Operating with restraint is not the same as withdrawing; it is a form of respect for the moment, for clients and for the communities in which these organisations operate. One executive described it to me as treating every business opportunity like gold dust, valuable but handled thoughtfully. That discipline is not fear; it is judgment.  It is something that can only come from leaders who understand their environment deeply enough to act on that understanding with confidence.

These three qualities only work in combination. Without presence, restraint looks like withdrawal. Without communication, presence looks like performance. But when all three work together, they create something more substantial than crisis management — they create leadership.

Why the region’s leadership culture matters

The qualities this moment demands are not new to leaders who have established their careers here. The UAE was founded on long-term conviction, on the willingness to maintain a forward view when conditions were difficult, to invest when others paused and to treat volatility as a condition to navigate rather than a reason to stop. That instinct is cultural and institutional, and it runs through the organisations that have shaped this region and through the leaders who have led them.

What I observe in the most effective leaders today is that instinct is reasserting itself. Not loudly, not with bravado, but with the quiet confidence of people who understand that how you lead through a difficult period defines what your organisation becomes when it is over.

The region, as one executive said to me simply last week, is still open for business. That is not optimism; it is an accurate description of a place whose leaders understand the difference between a moment that demands care and a moment that demands retreat. The executives demonstrating that understanding, staying present, communicating honestly and exercising restraint without withdrawing, are not waiting for conditions to improve before they lead — they are leading now.

The writer is the head of the Middle East at Russell Reynolds Associates.

Gulf Business honoured the region’s leading developers, real estate firms, architects, proptech companies, and industry leaders at the inaugural Gulf Business Real Estate Summit & Awards 2026, held last night at Palazzo Versace Dubai.

The event marked a major milestone for the brand as Gulf Business celebrates 30 years of chronicling the Gulf’s economic transformation, while also launching a new flagship platform dedicated to one of the region’s most influential sectors.

The platform combined a high-level summit with a dedicated awards programme aimed at recognising the companies and individuals shaping the future of real estate across the GCC.

Bringing together senior developers, investors, policymakers, consultants, and real estate stakeholders from across the GCC, the summit explored the future trajectory of the market through discussions focused on investment trends, regulatory evolution, sustainability, innovation, and the growing role of technology in shaping the built environment.

The awards programme recognised excellence across the region’s rapidly evolving real estate ecosystem, spanning master developers, luxury and residential projects, contracting firms, property technology companies, design studios, and influential industry leaders.

Among the major winners on the night were Msheireb Properties, which secured Smart and Sustainable Developer of the Year, while Samana Developers picked up multiple honours, including International Real Estate Company of the Year and Most Trusted Developer of the Year. ORO24 Developments was recognised as Most Impactful Developer of the Year, while Sobha Realty won Iconic Developer of the Year.

The awards also spotlighted leadership talent across the sector. Ali Mohammed Al Kuwari, CEO of Msheireb Properties, was named Real Estate CEO of the Year, while Atif Rahman, Founder and Chairman of ORO24 Developments, secured the Real Estate Personality of the Year title.

The event highlighted the scale and diversity of the Gulf’s real estate market at a time when the region continues to attract global capital, drive large-scale urban development, and position itself at the forefront of innovation and sustainable growth.

Below are the winners:

Company awards

Master Developer of the Year — HRE Development

Residential Developer of the Year — ANAX Developments

Luxury Developer of the Year — Pantheon Development

Emerging Developer of the Year — Ahmadyar Developments

International Real Estate Company of the Year — Samana Developers

Architectural Design Company of the Year — Studio Bruno Guelaff

Interior Design Company of the Year — Opaal Interiors

Proptech Company of the Year — ICTReD Real Estate Development

Branded Project of the Year — Ramada Residences Al Jaddaf by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Project of the Year — Skyhills Residences 1 by HRE Development

Off-plan Project of the Year — Casagrand HERMINA by Casagrand

Iconic Building of the Year — OYSTRA by RICHMIND

Real Estate Agency of the Year — Driven Properties (Representative collecting on behalf of winner)

Property Management Company of the Year — Dubai Residential

Real Estate Investment Company of the Year — Nisus Finance

Contracting Company of the Year — Bhatia General Contracting Company

Real Estate Team of the Year — CRC Property

Smart and Sustainable Developer of the Year — Msheireb Properties (Representative collecting on behalf of winner)

Most Impactful Developer of the Year — ORO24 Developments

Iconic Developer of the Year — Sobha Realty

Real Estate PR Agency of the Year — Publsh Group

Gulf Business Iconic Company of the Year — QUBE Development

Commercial Developer of the Year — DMCC

Most Trusted Developer of the Year — Samana Developers

Real Estate Event of the Year — Cityscape Global

Individual awards

Architect of the Year — Oleksandr Melnyk, NKEY Architects

Interior Designer of the Year — Noor Al Muhaideb, Opaal Interiors

Contracting Leader of the Year — Ajay Bhatia, Chairman, Bhatia General Contracting Company

Real Estate CEO of the Year — Ali Mohammed Al Kuwari, CEO, Msheireb Properties (Representative collecting on behalf of winner)

Real Estate Entrepreneur of the Year — Dr (CA) Ankur Aggarwal, Chairman and Founder, BNW Developments

Woman Real Estate Leader of the Year — Dana Awad, Chief Commercial Officer, ICTReD Real Estate Development

Real Estate Personality of the Year — Atif Rahman, Founder and Chairman, ORO24 Developments

Real Estate Visionary Leader of the Year — Imran Farooq, CEO, Samana Developers

Real Estate Trailblazer Leader of the Year — Egor Maslennikov, Chairman and Founder, Object 1

Editor’s Choice awards

Excellence in Luxury Living — Arif Developments

Excellence in Real Estate Communications — Papa Media

Architectural Excellence and Innovation — Arista Properties

Cross Border Real Estate Leader — Navneet Mandhani, Founder and CEO, Karma Developers

Young Real Estate Leader of the Year — Yogesh Bulchandani, Founder and CEO, Sunrise Capital

Excellence in Sustainable Luxury Redevelopment — Greenbull Contracting

Excellence in Commercial Development — AUM Development

Excellence in Real Estate Business Consultancy — Sherpa Communications