A total of 59 per cent of these were professional licences, while 41 per cent were commercial
Dubai issued 72,152 new business licences in 2021, a growth of 69 per cent compared to 42,729 licenses in 2020.
According to the official data released by the Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector at the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), 59 per cent of new business licences issued in 2021 were professional and 41 per cent were commercial.
Bur Dubai accounted for the largest share (48,562) of new licences issued followed by Deira (23,513), and Hatta (77), while the top sub-regions were: Al Fahidi, Burj Khalifa, Al Marrar, Port Saeed, Trade Centre 1, Naif, Dubai Investment Park 1, Al Barsha 1, Al Quoz 3, and Al Karama, official news agency WAM reported.
Among the legal forms of the new licences issued, sole establishment companies topped the list with 37 per cent, followed by limited liability companies with 26 per cent and civil companies with 13 per cent.
The legal forms also included: one-person limited liability companies, branches of companies based in other emirates; branches of foreign companies; branches of free zone companies; branches of GCC companies, general partnership companies; public shareholding companies; and private joint-stock companies.
A total of 430,921 business registration and licensing transactions were completed in 2021, a growth of 24 per cent compared to 347,496 transactions in 2020.
The number of Initial Approvals reached 60,293, a growth of 47 per cent compared to 2020 (40,982), while Trade Name Reservations reached 72,772, a growth of 42 per cent compared to a year-earlier period (51,252).
However, commercial permits increased by 15 per cent from 10,687 in 2020 to 12,284 in 2021.
The BRL sector reported that 15,196 instant licences were issued in 2021, a growth of 427 per cent compared to 2020, during which 2,884 licences were issued. The instant licence is issued within five minutes on invest.dubai.ae platform with the option to issue an electronic MOA and a virtual site for the first year only. Investors can obtain any trade licence or launch a business in a matter of minutes through ‘Invest in Dubai’.
