Kuwait expat quota bill: India shares its expectation, highlights role of Indian community

Even as worries grow over Kuwait's expat bill that can force out lakhs of Indian workers from the country, India has discussed the matter with the country highlighting the "well regarded" role of Indians.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday that the government is closely following the developments.

"We are closely following the developments in Kuwait. This matter has been discussed between FMs of India and Kuwait. We share excellent bilateral ties which are deeply rooted in people to people linkages," Srivastava said in his weekly presser on Thursday.

"The Indian community in Kuwait is well-regarded in Kuwait and elsewhere in the Gulf region and their contributions are well recognised. We have shared our expectations that Kuwait’s decision will take into account," he said.

The Kuwait expat draft law calls to introduce a quota for expats in the country to reduce the percentage of foreigners in the country, whose numbers surpass the local population in the country. The law stood the test of constitutionality a few days ago in the Kuwaiti Parliament.  

Indians form the largest expatriate community in Kuwait with one million-strong Indian community members. The law aims to put a quota of 15% for Indian expats in the country with respect to the overall population.

The bill, once passed by the Parliament will not only force many Indians out from the west Asian country but will also impact remittances. Worst impacted will be the southern state of Kerala, which supplies the highest number of workforce to the Gulf. 

The development comes as COVID-a9 has had a major impact on economies of west Asian countries due to the collapse in crude oil prices.  These countries have been trying to reorient the economies.

Recently, Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla said Gulf is feeling the impact as cost of energy comes down. Indians coming back but India see this "as a temporary phenomenon" as production picks up "they will require the expertise of our expats".

While Gulf countries may not be keen on foreigners coming now amidst COVID, they need Indian healthcare workers to deal with the ongoing global pandemic.