How does a business in the Gulf work with a development team in India?
The short answer
Agree a written scope, a fixed weekly review and where decisions are recorded, then judge the team on live progress rather than reports. Time zones help: India is 1 hour 30 minutes ahead of the UAE and Oman and 2 hours 30 minutes ahead of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, so most of the working day overlaps. Put Arabic, right-to-left layouts, local payment providers and data rules into the scope from the start.
Time zones and meetings
India runs at UTC+5:30, the UAE and Oman at UTC+4, and Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait at UTC+3. None of them moves its clocks for summer, so the gap is the same all year (IANA time zone database).
Set one fixed review each week, and keep decisions, progress and risks in writing so nothing depends on a call.
What to put in the scope
- Languages. English, Arabic or both. Arabic pages run right to left; the W3C advises setting the direction on the page and laying it out with start and end rather than left and right, so one design works both ways.
- Who writes and reviews the Arabic content.
- Payments and delivery. Which providers work in your countries, how they settle and in which currencies. Check this during discovery, before it is built.
- Personal data. Where it is stored and which data protection rules apply in each country you serve. Ask your lawyer which apply to you.
- Handover. The code, the accounts and the documents your team needs to run it.
Working week to week
- A live link to the work in progress, updated as it is built.
- A demo every week, with decisions written down afterwards.
- One named person who knows your project and answers your messages.
- A launch checklist that covers speed, accessibility and search basics.
How we can help.
- Websites, online stores and web apps for businesses across the Middle East. Middle East.
- For The Healing Pouch, which places workers from India with employers in Qatar and the GCC, we built the website, the applicant and employer app, a staff admin and the API. See the build.
Questions people ask.
Does Round Robin have an office in the Gulf?
No. We are a Delhi-based team working remotely with businesses across the Middle East, with written scopes, scheduled demos and a production handover.
Have you built for businesses in the Gulf?
Yes. L’Elite Collab is a platform that walks Dubai property buyers from the market to a single listing, and Arteo is a creative hub in Al Quoz whose site we rebuilt. L’Elite Collab and Arteo.
Can the site support English and Arabic?
Yes. We design for both languages and right-to-left layouts when Arabic content and review are part of the project scope.
Sources.
- IANA Time Zone Database (Asia/Kolkata, Asia/Dubai, Asia/Muscat, Asia/Riyadh, Asia/Qatar, Asia/Bahrain, Asia/Kuwait)Checked 23 October 2026
- W3C Internationalization: Structural markup and right-to-left text in HTMLChecked 23 October 2026
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Have a project in mind?
Tell us who it is for and what it must do. We reply within one working day.