Al Maya Group brings Diwali gifts, sweets and decorations to UAE stores
Al Maya Group is offering gift hampers, traditional sweets prepared in-house and Diwali decorations across its UAE stores, with its distribution business also planning festival promotions.
Mariam Al Mansoori
Shopping for the Festival of Lights
The retailer has decorated its stores with lights, diyas and candles for Diwali. Its seasonal selection includes accessories for decorating homes and gift hampers for relatives, friends, business associates and corporate recipients.
Food offerings include freshly made Indian mithai and other traditional sweets for gatherings, visits and gift exchanges. The company says it aims to bring festive food, gifts and decorations together to make preparations more convenient for customers.
Kamal Vachani, Al Maya Group's deputy CEO, group director and partner, described Diwali as a celebration of light overcoming darkness, hope overcoming despair and goodness overcoming negativity. He said the occasion brings families together to celebrate traditions and share happiness, and that Al Maya's store displays and seasonal offerings reflect that spirit.
Diwali falls on Sunday, November 8, 2026, in the UAE, according to Namaste Community's events guide, checked against organizers' pages on October 30. It is not a UAE public holiday. Dubai's citywide Festival of Lights runs November 2–12, with Noor: Festival of Lights at Souk Al Seef on November 7–8 as its anchor event.
For payments, Al Maya Supermarkets offers UPI across its UAE outlets, according to an August 2026 Khaleej Times supplement. Eligible customers can also pay with RuPay-enabled cards, subject to their issuing banks' arrangements for international use.
Distribution promotions and Indian brands
Al Maya Distribution plans promotional offers across its brand portfolio during Diwali. The group's fast-moving consumer goods distribution business operates in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Its UAE portfolio includes Indian brands Kohinoor for rice and paneer; KLF Coconut Oil; Gowardhan for ghee and paneer; Aeroplane pickles; Ashoka frozen vegetables; Indian Harvest Rice; Mr. Makhana; RRO Mustard Oil; Birla Tea; and Kamasutra condoms and deodorants.
The broader trade relationship is covered by the UAE–India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which took effect in May 2022. The August 2026 Khaleej Times supplement credits the agreement with expanding market access and strengthening supply chains between the two countries.
The group's retail network
Businessman L.K. Pagarani founded Al Maya Group in 1982. The Dubai-based conglomerate's corporate profile lists more than 5,000 employees from 30 countries and over 90 retail stores across the UAE and Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Its retail businesses include supermarkets, Borders and Paperchase.
A February 2026 Entrepreneur Middle East profile puts the group's monthly customer base at more than two million shoppers across over 90 outlets and says it partners with more than 100 brands. The profile reports that Vachani oversees more than 50 supermarkets in the UAE and Oman and manages over 75,000 deliveries each month across the GCC.
Vachani's other roles
The Entrepreneur Middle East profile also details Vachani's work outside Al Maya. He has served as the Middle East honorary regional director for the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council since 1999 and had recently been reappointed at the time of the February 2026 profile.
Vachani received the Vishwa Sindhi Divas Inspiring Leaders Award in 2021. He chairs the Dubai chapter of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin, is a longstanding Dubai Chamber of Commerce member and was appointed to the board of IndusInd International Holdings Limited, according to the profile.
