'3 months to open company bank account': Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath shares the difficulty of doing biz in Dubai

In the current times, Dubai is seen as one of the world’s most attractive destinations. However, Nikhil Kamath, co-founder of Indian stock brokerage firm Zerodha, believes even this country has its fair share of disadvantages.    “I am not saying this about India to sound overly patriotic. Dubai seems like a good place for the privileged few to spend their money. To start a business there and earn money is very difficult,” he said in his newly-launched podcast series.   The entrepreneur and investor also shared an experience of setting up a company in Dubai. “I was trying to create a company and fund there when I realised that they take three months to open a bank account for a company.”   He also revealed that in order to attain Dubai’s banking and financial license- Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC)- an individual has to undergo several medical tests to prove one doesn’t have any serious medical issue.    Aprameya Radhakrishna, Founder and CEO of Koo, who was also in the podcast said that if he were to pick between San Francisco and Dubai, he prefers travelling to the latter country more.    To this Kamath replied, “They are talking about us like we [India] are the next big thing.”   The podcast series goes by the name of ‘Unedited with Nikhil Kamath.’ In the second episode, he invited social media influencer Tanmay Bhat along with Umang Bedi (co-founder of VerSe) and Radhakrishna. The main theme of this episode was social media, including various challenges and issues surrounding it.    In the same episode he also spoke about his experience of meeting tech behemoth Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates who is also one of the richest men in the world.    “The incredible thing about him is the eclectic nature of his knowledge. You can go from talking about vaccines to climate to energy to everything! He is an incredibly smart individual,” Kamath said.