Indian businesses and services in Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen's first sizeable South Asian community was Pakistani, built by workers who came to Denmark in the 1960s and 1970s, many of them from Punjab, and their families remain a familiar part of the city. Sri Lankan Tamils arrived as refugees from the 1980s and settled across Denmark. The Indian community is mostly more recent: software engineers, researchers, staff of the pharmaceutical, shipping and energy companies, and international students, many of whom have arrived within the last ten to fifteen years.

For groceries, Nørrebro is the most useful district. Long known for its multicultural mix, it has many shops along its main streets run by Pakistani, Turkish and Middle Eastern owners, where basmati, lentils, spices and halal meat are easy to find. Indian families themselves are spread across the city and the surrounding suburbs, including the newer districts along the metro, so dedicated Indian shops are scattered rather than concentrated.

Most of Denmark's Hindu temples are Tamil foundations, dedicated to Ganesha, Murugan and the goddess Abirami, and the Copenhagen area also has an ISKCON temple and a gurdwara in Vanløse. Diwali, Navratri, Pongal, Onam and Holi are celebrated through association events and temple programmes, most of them in rented halls and community centres. The metro runs around the clock and cycling is the norm, so most of the city's South Asian shops and places of worship are reachable without a car. New residents will need a CPR number for nearly every public service, from healthcare to banking, so it is worth registering early.