Note: The post is a bit India Specific.

UAE is a buzzing country and has many world class upcoming cities. There are lot of money making opportunities in the country and lets say you made a lot of money. What now ? Money lying around ideal is basically a waste of money. This blog post i will try to highlight few of the possible instruments you should or should not invest in.

Firstly, the fixed deposits. The rate of interest in Dubai is shit as compared to India. Max to max you can get from a conventional bank in Dubai is around 4%. But critics justify the low rate of interest as a result of low rate of inflation. If you send the money back to India for a greater interest rate, you subject your self to other possible hazardous parameters like currency depreciation and Tax Deduction at Source.

Lets talk a bit about currency depreciation first. Indian currency over the period of time has gone in only direction and that is down. One dirham was once worth 6 rupees and now its worth 15 rupees. So you might make 10% on your capital as interest. The value of the Rupee goes down another 10% with respect to Dirham on a average on yearly basis . Plus, the buying power of your money goes down further 10% due to inflation back in India.

Tax Deduction at Source or TDS is another major stupid parameter. If your interest generated in one bank is more than 10,000 Rupees a good fraction of the interest will be cut as tax. So one needs to be vigilant to ensure that the interest generated is less than the threshold amount always. If you have big money, this could be a major pain.

You could invest in stocks in Dubai. But the stock market lacks volume and hardly a handful of counter have movement. The movement is so slow that its hard to even notice. The brokerages are huge and you need to buy in huge quantities to even make profits. The fundamentals of the market are not favorable for any investor. There is lack of transparency and I don’t really trust an Arab management. I am better of investing back in India or US if you ask me.

You could also invest in real estate in UAE. The terms are not favorable. The properties are located far away, maintenance fees are high and just too expensive. As far as I know, the prices are kind of capped now and chances of appreciation are slim. Because [lot of new properties should be completed in this year. I don’t really see end users for all those properties. There is a huge gap between demand and supply. Demand is less and supply is way more. So even real estate in Dubai is not a ideal location for your money.

So at the end of the day, I am of the opinion that if you don’t like taking risk keep your money in UAE. The currency is stable and not much inflation depreciation. But if you have a risk appetite, send your money elsewhere where you are confident of a double digit return.