Indian firms in crisis mode as Gulf conflict escalates

“We are in touch with the client firms. The workers are safe. About 80 workers from our side were supposed to go to Bahrain and Qatar in the next two days; and now that has halted, and so have other recruitments for the region,” said Kapil Gupta, chief executive officer of Shella Consultants, an overseas recruitment firm for oil and gas, telecom, infrastructure, and construction companies, among other sectors.

More than 9 million Indians live in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. The region attracts the largest number of migrant workforce, including white-collar employees.

A war room was created to map employees based in many parts of the UAE and Qatar, according to a senior executive in one of the largest construction companies, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The US and Israel initiated joint strikes on Iran over the weekend to contain the Persian Gulf nation’s nuclear ambitions. The action evoked retaliatory strikes from Iran on Israel and American bases across the Gulf region, including Dubai, a global trade and finance hub. Flights to and from the region remain disrupted.

“The attacks target US assets in the Middle East. This situation does not impact us, as we have no activities within the limited conflict zone,” a spokesperson from Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, the flagship infrastructure engineering and construction company of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, said in an emailed response. “Given the escalating tensions over the past several months, we had already taken precautionary steps by temporarily reducing our manpower presence in the region.”

Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd (APSEZ), which operates the Haifa port along the Mediterranean coast in northern Israel, is also monitoring the situation.

“Haifa Port Company confirms that all its employees are safe, and all port assets and infrastructure are fully secure and in operational condition,” said the company. “The port continues to monitor the situation and is coordinating closely with the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety and operating as per their instructions”.

EMA Partners India Ltd operates executive and professional search businesses in Dubai. “We have asked the team to follow safety protocols as per the government there,” said K Sudarshan, managing director of the search firm. “It happened over the weekend, and we are yet to assess the business impact, but hope it will be over very soon and normalcy will be restored.”

Although it is too early to conclude, Dubai’s image as a good option beyond London and New York will be challenged, according to Aditya Narayan Mishra, managing director and chief executive officer of recruitment and staffing firm CIEL HR. “We opened an office a few weeks ago in Dubai to cater to some of our clients for the white-collar workforce, who we will hire from India. Now, we will have to wait and watch.”

A student at the Institute of Management Technology-Dubai told Mint that there are about 400-500 Indian pupils on campus, including those from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani— Dubai.

“The students have been instructed to go straight into the basement whenever they hear a siren ring, and classes have shifted online,” the student said in text messages to Mint. “The student council is also trying to speak to the top management and staying indoors, hoping for some news.”

Queries emailed on Sunday to the Dubai campuses of BITS Pilani, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Amity University, S.P. Jain School of Global Management, Institute of Management Technology, and the Abu Dhabi campus of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi did not elicit a response.