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Facing an uproar from the Indian community, a company selling bath towels with the tricolour printed on them has withdrawn the product from the shelves in supermarkets.
Unilever Arabia withdrew the towels after the Indian consulate in Dubai had raised an objection and asked the company to withdraw the promotional product from the market with immediate effect.
The flag was printed on towels, which were distributed free along with consumer products in leading supermarkets in Dubai and the promotion was part of the preparation for the World Cup.
"If we have inadvertently offended any persons we apologise," Rola Tassabeji, corporate communications manager for Unilever Middle East, said.
Unilever Arabia says it never intended to offend anyone and the spokesperson said they had been contacted by the Indian consulate which "raised concerns over our use of the image of an Indian flag."
"Although Unilever Arabia had received permission to run this type of promotion locally, we have decided to respond to the Indian Consulate's concerns by removing from stores all promotional items carrying the image of the Indian flag," she said.
A consulate official had on Wednesday said, "The consulate has conveyed the above matter to the companies concerned and asked them to withdraw with immediate effect all towels with Indian National Flag printed on them and desist from distributing them any further."