Indian businesses and services in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

In February 2024 the capital gained its first traditional Hindu temple: the BAPS Hindu Mandir at Abu Mureikhah, off the Abu Dhabi to Dubai highway, built of hand-carved stone on land gifted by the ruler of Abu Dhabi, now the UAE's president. It welcomes visitors of all faiths, but it sits well outside the city, so plan the drive, and check the mandir's own visiting rules on registration and dress before you go. Sikh residents have a gurdwara of their own, in the M11 sector of Mussafah, where volunteers run the kitchen and the daily communal meal; the larger Guru Nanak Darbar is in Jebel Ali, on the Dubai side of the border.

Day to day, South Asian life in the city centre is easiest to find in the older apartment blocks of the downtown grid, where you will find grocers, tailors, money exchange houses and small restaurants serving Kerala, Hyderabadi, Punjabi and Pakistani food. Mussafah, the industrial district on the mainland, is home to many workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and has its own shops and canteens geared to them.

Abu Dhabi's Indian community has a strong Keralite character, and that shows in the calendar. Onam is celebrated widely through Malayali associations and the community centres, often with sadya lunches stretched over several weekends. Diwali brings lights to homes and shop fronts and, since the mandir opened, large gatherings at Abu Mureikhah. Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are national holidays. Big community events tend to be scheduled for weekends, which in the UAE now fall on Saturday and Sunday.