187When these efforts proved inadequate, a new Saudization process called
Nitaqat was introduced in June 2011 towards achieving greater represen-
tation for the citizens in the labour market (Ramady 2013 ; Lodi 2018 ;
Al-Asfour and Khan 2014 ). It outlined a number of reward and punish-
ment mechanisms towards encouraging the Saudi companies and busi-
nesses to hire a fixed portion of nationals at all levels of employment.
Accordingly, a differing percentage, depending on the size of the organi-
zation, availability of qualified local labour force in the field and number
of expatriates already employed in the company, was fixed for employing
Saudis. Organizations were categorized in five different groups based on
the number of employees; companies with 3000-plus employees were
considered Huge, 500 plus were termed as Large, 50–499 as Medium,
Small with 10–49 employees and Very Small for organizations with 9 or
fewer employees. Further, these companies were classified into four colour
bands with separate privileges and curbs based on the level of Saudization
(Table 9.8).
As a result, a number of Indians had to return home as their employers
were forced to reduce the expatriate workforce and 75,000 lost their jobs
in 2013 and another 150,000 illegal Indian workers either had to return
home or were allowed to correct their status by changing their visa type or
transferring their iqama (local residency permit) to other companies (PTI
2013a, b, c; Bagchi 2017 ). Ironic as it sounds, the introduction of Nitaqat
had not decreased the flow of Indians to Saudi Arabia or other countries
of the Gulf, which also introduced similar provisions. In 2011, alone
289,297 low and unskilled persons were given emigration clearance by the
Indian labour ministry for work in Saudi Arabia (India, MEA 2013a, 39).
Table 9.8 Categorization of Saudi companies based on percentage of Saudization
under Nitaqat in wholesale and retail sector
Percentage of Saudization
Categories Red Yellow Green Green-premium
Number of employees From To From To From To
10–49 0 4 5 9 10 26 27
50–499 0 4 5 16 17 33 34
500–2999 0 9 10 23 24 34 35
3000+ 0 9 10 24 25 36 37Source: Sadi ( 2013 )
ENERGY, ECONOMICS AND EXPATRIATES