LuLu Chairman among 25 richest Indians: Forbes

Mumbai : The latest edition of Forbes Rich list saw six Keralites who made it to the billionaire club. Among them is Yusuff Ali MA, Chairman of Abu Dhabi-based Middle East retail chain LuLu Group who is placed 25th in the list with a net worth of $4 billion. 

Last year his net worth was US$3.7 billion. He is the only Keralite who made among top 25 of Indian billionaires. 

Yusuff Ali presides over $6.3 billion (revenue) LuLu Group, with 129 stores in the Gulf region, India, Egypt, Indonesia and Malaysia, Turkey and Brazil. New projects include a $300 million investment in Thiruvananthapuram in South India that will include a mall, hotel and convention centre. 

The group’s hospitality arm owns Dubai’s first Steigenberger Hotel, a German luxury hotel brand and a 50pc stake in the Sheraton hotel in Muscat, which will reopen next month after renovations and the legendary Old Scotland Yard building in London, slated to be open as a Luxury Hotel by early next year.

Yusuff Ali is followed by Ravi Pillai, also a Gulf-based businessman who is placed 38th in the list with a fortune of $3.1 Billion. George Muthoot is placed 59th ($1.92bn), Sunny Varky, Chairman of GEMS Schools ($1.9bn) 60th in the list, PNC Menon with $1.64bn (78th) also found a place in the list. Others in the list are Kris Gopalakrishnan, ($1.92bn), Azad Moopen ($1.28bn) and Shamsheer Vayalil ($1.27bn), who is the youngest Malayalee in the list and son-in-law of Yusuffali MA.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani topped Forbes’s annual list of India’s 100 richest tycoons with a net worth of $22.7 billion. The combined net worth of India’s 100 wealthiest is $381 billion, a rise of 10 per cent from $345 billion in 2015. 

Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia, said: “In a post-Brexit world, India appears a steady ship with an economy growing at 7pc-plus. The majority of India’s 100 richest have notched up handsome gains as their companies have outperformed the stock market in the past year. As the domestic investment cycle starts kicking in, we can expect more gains and new names in the future.”

Other prominent Non-Resident Indians in the list include Micky Jagtiani of Landmar group and BR Shetty of NMC Group.