Surender Singh Kandhari

Surender Singh Kandhari arrived in Dubai in 1975 and established a tyre-trading business in Deira in 1976, which he grew into the Al Dobowi Group — a diversified business spanning tyres, batteries, lubricants and industrial rubber products with operations in more than ten countries. He remains the group’s founder and chairman, and is regularly listed among the leading Indian business figures in the Gulf.

Kandhari is best known in the community as the chairman and driving force behind Guru Nanak Darbar in Jebel Ali, the first purpose-built Sikh gurdwara in the UAE, inaugurated in 2012 on land granted by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Built with community funding — to which he reportedly contributed close to twenty million dollars — the gurdwara serves free meals to people of all faiths and has hosted tens of thousands of worshippers on major occasions.

In 2019 he received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India’s highest honour for overseas citizens, and he was named among Forbes Middle East’s top Indian business leaders in the Arab world in 2018. A long-time Dubai resident and author of a memoir, he is widely regarded as an elder of the UAE’s Indian and Sikh communities.

This profile is an independent editorial compilation drawn from the public record — official company and government sources, national honours, and established news coverage. Inclusion is an editorial selection by this journal; it is not an official state honour and is not a comment on anyone’s private affairs or tax matters. Corrections: admin@federaltaxauthority.org.

Part of Recognized contributors to the UAE — this journal’s directory of Emiratis and long-serving expatriates who helped shape the country.