• Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that it is “closely monitoring” the status of Kuwait’s draft residency bill, which is aimed at expelling a bulk of foreigners from the country.

The draft expat quota bill:

• The draft bill proposes to reduces the number of expats in Kuwait from over 70% to 30% of the population. The purpose is to gradually decrease the number of expats by bringing it down to 70% this year, 65% next year and so on.

• The bill specifies country-wise caps designating a quota for how many people of a certain nationality can be allowed to work in Kuwait.

• The Indian expatriate community, which is the largest expat group in Kuwait, should not exceed 15% of the national population. It also calls for reducing the number of Egyptians, who form the second largest expatriate community, to 10% of Kuwait’s total population.

Kuwait’s population problem:

• Kuwait wants to balance the population proportion of Kuwaitis and expats.

• As of now, the current population of Kuwait is 4.3 million, with Kuwaitis making up 1.3 million of the population, and expats accounting for 3 million.

• A comprehensive draft law calling for a gradual reduction of expats in Kuwait was announced to be submitted in the Assembly by the Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem, as per a media statement.

Impact on India:

• The Indian community constitutes the largest expat community in Kuwait, totalling 1.45 million’.

• If the bill becomes a law, it will reduce the Indian presence in Kuwait and will prove to be a big blow to India’s remittance economy which is considerably dependent on Gulf nations.

• Kuwait is a top source of remittances for India. In 2018, India received nearly USD 4.8 billion from Kuwait as remittances.