He arrived by boat.
In April 1960, a nineteen-year-old from India paid one dollar and fifty cents for a deck-class ticket on a ship headed for Sharjah. He bought it ten minutes before departure. The emirate he was sailing toward still ran on petromax lamps. Dubai was a modest trading post, its skyline closer to sand than steel. He had no blueprint, no safety net, and no guarantee that the journey would amount to anything at all. He had only ambition — and, as it turned out, that was more than enough.
Vasu Shroff, the man who would become the UAE’s undisputed Textile King, died on Sunday morning, April 26, at his residence in Satwa, Dubai. He was 85. His passing was peaceful, of natural causes, between 7:30 and 8 o’clock in the morning — the quiet close to a life that was anything but quiet in its living. A funeral was held on Monday, April 27, at the New Sonapur Crematorium in Dubai. The family requested privacy. The city, however, could not stay silent.
One Store. Sixteen Stores. An Empire.
The story of Vasu Shroff is, at its heart, the story of Dubai itself — a place that rewarded vision, persistence, and the willingness to bet on the future before it announced itself.
When Shroff arrived in the Trucial States, he joined his brothers in the textile wholesale trade. But he saw a different horizon. While wholesale was the safe play, he pushed into retail — a bold gamble at a time when domestic consumption in Dubai accounted for just 20 per cent of the market. Most traders thought he was wrong. Regal Traders proved them otherwise.
Founded in 1952, with Shroff energising its retail ambitions from 1960, Regal began as a single store in the heart of Bur Dubai. Under his stewardship, it expanded to 16 stores and five offices spread across five countries, growing into one of the most recognised names in the Gulf’s textile and fabric trade. Under the Regal Group umbrella, the business diversified further — into technology, real estate, manufacturing and investment — becoming a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate across the GCC.
He was known for saying that while one could survive, however briefly, without food or water, no one could step out of their home without clothes. It was not merely a justification for his trade. It was his philosophy — that what he did was necessary, dignified, and worth doing well.
More Than a Merchant
Yet the measure of Vasu Shroff was never taken in balance sheets alone.
In 1961, barely a year after arriving in the UAE, Shroff was already giving back. He became one of the key figures in establishing The Indian High School in Dubai — one of the first institutions to serve the burgeoning Indian community in the region. He became an honorary teacher there, instructing Hindi and physical education to a class of nine students in an apartment in Bur Dubai’s Al Shirawi building. That modest apartment school has since grown into a three-campus institution educating more than 16,000 students, many of them at nominal fees.
He helped build the Hindu temple in Jebel Ali. He developed cremation grounds for the Hindu community — giving his compatriots a dignified place to honour their dead on foreign soil. He supported the India Club and countless other Indian institutions that formed the connective tissue of the diaspora’s life in the Gulf. He was a patron, a builder, a quiet underwriter of community life — often doing it, as those who knew him confirm, without seeking recognition.
His most recent dream, shared in an interview as recently as December 2025, was an Indian merchant community hall, estimated to cost Dh70 million. He called it his “last dream.” He did not live to see it built — but the fact that he was dreaming at 85 says everything about the man.
The Dada Everyone Claimed
In Dubai’s Indian community, he was not merely Mr. Shroff. He was Vasu Dada — the elder, the patriarch, the man you went to when you needed counsel, connection, or simply the reassurance of his presence.
“Not a single person who came to him left empty-handed, whether they came seeking advice, a blessing, or simply the reassurance of his presence,” said Priya Kumar, who wrote his biography, *A Regal Man: The Life and Lessons of Vasu Shroff*. “He gave beyond what was asked, beyond what was expected, beyond what most would even think to offer.” She added, with the clarity of someone who spent long hours in his company: “I came to document his story, and he turned the lens around. On the very day I arrived to interview him, he interviewed me. That is the kind of man he was — even in receiving, he gave. Even in being seen, he made you feel seen.”
Kamal Vachani, Deputy CEO and Group Director of Al Maya Group, recalled that Shroff’s name and goodwill had reached him before he even arrived in Dubai. “He was not only a respected figure in the community but a Dada to everyone, embodying warmth, humility, and a gracious nature that left a lasting impression on all.”
Navin Kapoor, who had known Shroff for over four decades, remembered him as “a trustworthy mentor who was always willing to help without any expectation” — and recalled with warmth a moment when Shroff helped sort out a marriage certificate for his daughter. “He always used to say, ‘I got your daughter legally married!'” The laughter, one imagines, was loud and genuine. That was Vasu Dada.
A Legacy Written in Tributes
The tributes that poured in on Sunday spoke not just of professional regard, but of something deeper — the kind of affection reserved for people who have genuinely shaped the world around them.
Yusuffali MA, Chairman of the Lulu Group, described Shroff as among the early visionaries who helped shape Dubai’s commercial landscape, noting that his journey inspired generations of Indian entrepreneurs who came to the UAE and made it their home. “He will always be remembered for his humility, resilience, and contributions to society,” he said.
Faizal Kottikollon, Founder and Chairman of KEF Holdings, described the loss as profound — not just for the UAE, but for India. “He played an instrumental role in strengthening the Indian community here and will be remembered for his generosity and leadership. He did so much for the community, often quietly and without seeking recognition.”
Dr. Dhananjay Datar, Chairman of the Adil Group of Supermarkets, said: “His journey reflected resilience, vision, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. His contributions went far beyond business — he played a significant role in fostering community spirit and supporting countless individuals through his generosity and leadership.”
Anis Sajan, Vice Chairman of Danube Group, who had known him for more than 25 years, said his passing would leave a gap in the industry that would be deeply felt. Rajan Lall, a close family friend, was more direct: “We have lost a legend.”
The Rewards of a Life Well Lived
Shroff was a recipient of the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Award — India’s highest honour for members of the Indian diaspora — along with more than a dozen other recognitions for his service to business and community. They were well earned, but those who knew him suggest the awards meant less to him than the acts themselves.
He had his ambitions to build 101 temples across the world. He had his community hall. He had his school, still running, still educating. He had his temples and his cremation grounds, giving the Indian community in the UAE the full architecture of a life honoured from beginning to end.
The End of an Era
There is a particular kind of grief that settles over a community when it loses someone who was there at the beginning — someone who saw the before, who built the during, and who shaped so much of the after. Vasu Shroff was that person for Dubai’s Indian community and, in many ways, for Dubai itself.
He came by boat, with a dollar and fifty cents in his pocket, on a ticket bought ten minutes before departure. He leaves behind schools, temples, businesses, institutions, and a community that is, in no small part, his creation.
Priya Kumar, the woman who wrote his life into a book, offered the most fitting epitaph: “There is no adequate category for a man like Vasu Shroff. He did not simply build an empire. He built something real, something rooted, something that will outlast marble and mortar.”
The Textile King is gone. But the fabric of what he wove — across six decades, across borders, across generations — will hold for a very long time yet.