This article covers Indian culture in the UAE, the India-UAE Cultural Council Forum, Indian university campuses in the UAE, and the Indian community, including its size, profile and awards. It is based on the MEA brief of April 2026, and community figures are given as of that brief. Education is covered here because the brief has too little material on it for a separate article.
Indian culture in the UAE
According to the MEA brief of April 2026, the UAE is home to 4.3 million Indians, and the brief describes Emiratis as quite familiar with, and sensitive to, Indian culture. Indian cinema, TV and radio channels are easily available and, according to the brief, have good viewership. Major theatres and cinema halls in the UAE screen commercial Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil films.
The Emirati community also takes part in International Day of Yoga events, and various institutions and studios of yoga and meditation operate in the UAE. The Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC) and the UAE Ministry of Tolerance & Coexistence promote collective community events and encourage participation of the Indian diaspora in sports, fitness and cultural activities.
The Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi, which the brief describes as the only branch of the Louvre Museum outside Paris, has a number of artefacts from India. They include the Mughal painting 'The Huntress', painted in one of the Mughal courts in South India.
India-UAE Cultural Council Forum
On 01 September 2022, on the margins of the 14th Joint Commission Meeting, an MoU was signed to set up the India-UAE Cultural Council Forum. According to the brief, the forum will facilitate cultural cooperation and people to people interactions between the two countries.
Indian universities and campuses
On 15 July 2023, a tripartite MoU was signed between the Ministry of Education of India, IIT Delhi and the Abu Dhabi Department of Education & Knowledge (ADEK) to establish an overseas campus of IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi. The IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi Campus offered its first program, a Master's in Energy Transition & Sustainability, from January 2024. Two bachelor programs, in Energy Engineering and in Computer Science and Engineering, started in September 2024.
The IIM Ahmedabad branch campus in Dubai was launched at Dubai International Academic City in September 2025 by Education Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and the Crown Prince of Dubai, HH Sheikh Hamdan. In October 2024, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) signed an MoU with Expo City Dubai Authority to set up a campus for its academic programs at the India Pavilion in Expo City. The brief names Manipal, BITS Pilani, Amity University and Symbiosis among other Indian institutions that have set up campuses in the UAE.
The Indian community
The brief describes the Indian expatriate community as the largest ethnic community in the UAE, constituting roughly about 35 percent of the country's population.
The profile of the community has changed since the 1970s and 1980s, when 85% - 90% of the Indian community was blue-collared. Today, according to the brief, around 35% is made up of professionally qualified personnel, businessmen and other white collar non-professionals, and 10% of the total are dependent family members.
The brief states that the annual remittances made by the large Indian community in the UAE are among the highest in the world. It also states that the community has played a major role in the economic development of the UAE and is respected for its technical competence, sense of discipline and law abiding nature.
Awards
18 eminent Indians and one Indian Community Association from the UAE have been honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, and 7 Indians have received Padma awards.