Indian Arrival Day is a holiday celebrated on various days in the nations of the Caribbean, Fiji, South Africa and Mauritius, commemorating the arrival of people from India and the wider subcontinent to their respective nations as indentured laborers brought by European colonial authorities and their agents.

Governor General Sir Carlyle Glean unveiled a granite plaque commemorating the arrival of the first Indians in Grenada.

Between the years 1857 and 1890 other ships anchored in this and other bays bringing a total of 3,200 persons from India to work as agricultural indentured labourers in Grenada.

This date is specifically chosen as the ship Atlas arrived in Mauritius on Sunday 2 November 1834 with the first cargo of 36 Hill Coolies or indentured labourers of the Dhangar caste, organised by the Hunter-Arbuthnot & Company.

On this day a ship named Lalla Rookh,[22] arrived in Paramaribo carrying the first batch of 399[23] Indian Indenture Labours.

It commemorates the arrival of the first indentured labourers from India in May 1845 on a ship named Fatel Razack after a journey of five months, carrying 275 Indians.

Other local dignitaries who addressed the large crowd included Timothy Roodal, George F. Fitzpatrick, Adrian Cola Rienzi, and Murli J. Kirpalani.

The initial historic Committee comprised Anand Rameshwar Singh, Khalique Khan, Ramdath Jagessar, Rajiv Sieunarine, Azamudeen "Danny" Jang, Michael Sankar and Rajesh Harricharan.

The first active step was taken in early 1978, when they produced and distributed a one-page pamphlet with the title "Indian Emigration Day May 30, 1978".

The SDMS Secretary General Satnarayan Maharaj receptive to the idea, agreed to organize a major celebration at Lakshmi Girls College on 27 May 1979.

IRRA and the SDMS in discussions agreed that Indians were no longer emigrants to Trinidad and Tobago, but citizens who had arrived 134 years before.

Government ministers Sham and Kamal Mohammed were there, as was the Indian High Commissioner and Presbyterian Church moderator Idris Hamid.

Subsequent years the Hindu Seva Sangh and other smaller groups approached the IRRA for guidance in developing in various communities throughout Trinidad and Tobago.

By 1980 Indian Arrival Day celebrations were held at the Spring Village in Curepe, Cedros, Couva, Penal, Debe, San Juan, Chaguanas, and many other parts of the country.

In 1991 Members of Parliament Trevor Sudama and Raymond Pallackdarrysingh first introduced to the House of Representatives the concept that Indian Arrival Day should be made a national public holiday.

Since its establishment in Trinidad and Tobago, Indian Arrival Day has given rise to similar celebrations in Fiji, Grenada,[25] Guyana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Suriname, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

However, there is no similar celebration in Malaysia, Singapore, Réunion, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, or Kenya, which are also home to somewhat large Indian-origin populations.