Indian life in Malaysia: food, festivals and entertainment

Malaysia is home to 2,902,370 overseas Indians. Here is where to find Indian food, festivals and entertainment there. For the Indian embassy and NRI services, see NRI services in Malaysia.

Where to find Indian food and shops

Kuala Lumpur's Little India is in Brickfields, along Jalan Tun Sambanthan near KL Sentral, with banana-leaf restaurants, sweet shops, textiles and jewellery; Jalan Masjid India in the city centre is another Indian shopping street. George Town in Penang has its own Little India. Indian-Muslim (mamak) restaurants serving roti canai and teh tarik are a Malaysian institution, open late in every town. In Kuala Lumpur, Annalakshmi, run by volunteers of the Temple of Fine Arts, lets diners pay as they wish, and the Chennai chains Saravanaa Bhavan and Sangeetha have branches in Malaysia.

Festivals and celebrations

Deepavali is a public holiday in most of Malaysia. At Thaipusam, hundreds of thousands of devotees climb to the Batu Caves temple outside Kuala Lumpur. See Tourism Malaysia for events.

Culture and films

India's cultural centre in Kuala Lumpur, the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indian Cultural Centre, holds classes and performances. Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films open in Malaysian cinemas in the same week as in India.

Overseas Indian figures: Ministry of External Affairs, as of January 2026.