New Delhi, Nov. 10 -- Dubai's pull for Indians is not just glamour, skyline or weather. It is the hard arithmetic of a city where what you earn, you actually keep: no personal income tax and near-zero salary deductions. For Sushmeet Singh, who landed in Dubai in 2008 for an MBA, intending to return to India in two years, that one feature quietly rewired his life plan. He decided to stay, and Dubai has become home for him, his wife Amrita Arora and their 7-year-old son.

"Dubai's tax-free status is one of the biggest financial advantages of living here. A tax-free income is not a lifestyle benefit, rather a compounding advantage," said Singh, sales director with a global technology company.

That said, the government doesn't subsidize educ...