This article covers cultural relations between India and Kenya, scholarships and study links, people-to-people associations and awards, and the Indian community in Kenya. Tourism figures and air links are given in the practical guide in this series. It is based on the MEA bilateral brief of March 2026.

Cultural agreement and festivals

A bilateral Cultural Cooperation Agreement was signed in 1981. Holding the first ever Festival of India in Kenya was among the announcements made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's State visit in July 2016.

The Mission, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of India and the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts of Kenya, organised that first Festival of India, named "Urafiki Utsav", from 10 October to 28 November 2016. Six cultural troupes from different parts of India performed in five cities of Kenya.

Since 2016, under the sponsorship of ICCR, Indian artists have taken part as adjudicators for the Kenya Music Festival. The Mission has also distributed grants-in-aid from the Ministry of Culture of India to 16 Kenyan organisations promoting Indian culture.

A 20-member cultural troupe from Kenya, with 4 Government officials, took part in the 32nd Surajkund International Crafts Mela at Faridabad in February 2018, organised by the State Government of Haryana in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs. Kenya took part in the Surajkund International Crafts Mela again in February 2019.

A South Indian Cultural Festival was organised in May 2019. It was attended by the Cabinet Secretaries of the Ministry of Sports & Culture and of the Ministry of Defence, the Governors of Machakos and Laikipia Counties and the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with more than 300 guests from the Indian diaspora, the diplomatic corps, prominent Kenyans and the media.

Scholarships and study in India

According to the MEA brief of March 2026, Kenya is offered roughly 80 ICCR scholarships. During President William Ruto's State Visit to India in December 2023, an increase in ICCR scholarships from 48 to 80 per year was announced.

The 'Bharatwallah Alumni Association', an association of Kenyans who studied in India over a period of more than 50 years, was formally launched in May 2016. Prime Minister Modi interacted with the association in July 2016.

An MoU on the establishment of an ICCR Chair on Indian studies between ICCR and the University of Nairobi was signed in March 2015. Prof. Rachel Gesami of Kenya joined as Nelson Mandela Chair at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi in February 2018.

The Kenya-India Friendship Association (KIFA) was set up in 1981. The late Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate and environmentalist Prof. Wangari Maathai was conferred the 2005 Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding and the 2006 Indira Gandhi Award for Peace, Disarmament and Development.

Indian origin MPs Dr. Swarup Ranjan Mishra and Mr. Abdul Rahim Dawood attended the First PIO-Parliamentarians Conference in New Delhi on 9 and 10 January 2018. Ms. Champa Varsani and Mr. Darshan Chandaria went to South Africa for the Gandhi-Mandela Youth Summit on 6 and 7 June 2018, held to commemorate the 125th Anniversary of the Pietermaritzburg Railway Station incident.

Principal Secretary for Diaspora Affairs Roseline Njogu visited India from 12 to 15 November 2024 for a benchmarking study.

History of the Indian community

The brief traces Indian trade with the Swahili coast to early historical times. Indian presence continued when the region, particularly Mogadishu, Mombasa and Zanzibar, came under Omani rule, and Indian involvement became deeper with the advent of the Portuguese and finally the British. A large number of Indians came from 1895 onwards to build the British railway line from Mombasa to Uganda.

Kenyan Indians took an active part in Kenya's pre-independence period, among them the labour leader Makhan Singh, M. A. Desai and Pio Gama Pinto. At the 1953 trial of Jomo Kenyatta, Indian MP Diwan Chaman Lall joined his defence team, which included two other persons of Indian origin: F R S DeSouza, later Kenya's Deputy Speaker, and A R Kapila.

The community today

As of the MEA brief of March 2026, the community of persons of Indian origin in Kenya numbers around 80,000, including an estimated 20,000 Indian citizens. The Hindu Council of Kenya serves as an umbrella body for Hindu religious and cultural institutions, and there are several associations representing different communities within the diaspora, along with places of worship, schools and social institutions.

Several Kenyans of Indian origin have worked as lawyers, judges, doctors and academics, including in the higher judiciary: former Chief Justices Chunilal Madan and Abdul Majid Cockar. During his State visit in July 2016, Prime Minister Modi addressed a gathering of over 20,000 Indian community members in Nairobi, and President Kenyatta joined him at the event.

Five persons of Indian origin from Kenya have received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman:

  • Mr. Manilal Premchand Chandaria
  • Mr. Pheroze Nowrojee (now deceased)
  • Mr. P.V. Sambasiva Rao
  • Dr. Prakash M. Heda
  • Dr. FRS De Souza (now deceased)