My Dubai Salary: ‘From earning Dh8,000 on my first job, I now draw Dh40,000 as a start-up founder’

Indian expat Hemant Mundhra, who runs a start-up in Dubai, says he steadily grew his income as an employee in the UAE by changing jobs and not on-the-job salary increments.

Mr Mundra, 58, has substantial savings owing to his long expat life in the Emirates and mostly invests in the Indian stock market, international index funds and property.

The entrepreneur, who has been in the UAE for 28 years, is from the north-west Indian state of Rajasthan, but was born and raised in the city of Kolkata in West Bengal. He currently lives with his wife and daughter, 25, in Al Karama, Dubai.

He is a chartered accountant and management accountant and also completed a certification in international taxation and a diploma in international financial reporting standards.

What was your first job and salary?

My first job in India was with Aditya Birla group in Kolkata in 1991 as a management services executive and my salary was 3,500 Indian rupees ($39).

I worked for six years after qualifying as a chartered accountant in India and moved to Dubai in 1997 to gain international exposure and save more money.

In the UAE, my first job was as a finance manager in a toy department store and my salary was Dh8,000 ($2,178). Since then, salary progression happened not through increments, but by changing jobs.

Later, I joined a British-German conglomerate for a salary of Dh10,000 as a finance controller and then switched to Al Tayer Group for a salary of Dh12,000 as finance manager. Then I moved to Saif Al Ghurair Group as group finance manager for a salary of Dh26,000 and worked there for five years.

I then moved to Abu Dhabi to work with the office of a ruling family member, where my salary doubled to Dh50,000. I worked there for five years.

Tell us about your current role. What is your salary now?

I decided to start my own practice, TotalCFO management consultancy, in 2016 but I treat myself as a salaried employee. I draw a salary of Dh40,000 as a managing partner and chief executive. It is an accounting and tax advisory firm that offers outsourced chief financial officer services to small and medium enterprises. Besides advisory services on VAT and corporate tax, we also provide help with international taxation, cross-border transactions and transfer pricing.

Do you have considerable savings?

Yes, I have considerable savings because of the number of years I have worked in the UAE, returns on my