DOHA: Yusuff Ali MA (pictured), Chairman of Abu Dhabi based Middle East retail chain Lulu Group, has found his top place in the prestigious Forbes’ annual list of India’s 100 richest tycoons. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped Forbes’s annual list with a net worth of $22.7bn. The combined net worth of India’s 100 wealthiest is $381bn, a rise of 10 percent from $345bn in 2015.
Yusuff Ali presides over $6.3bn (revenue) LuLu Group, with 129 stores in the Gulf region, India, Egypt, Indonesia and Malaysia, Turkey and Brazil. New projects include a $300m investment in Trivandrum in Southern Indian State Kerala that will include a mall, hotel and convention center.
The group’s hospitality arm owns Dubai’s first Steigenberger hotel, a German luxury hotel brand and a 50 percent stake in the Sheraton hotel in Muscat, which will reopen October this year after renovations and the legendary Old Scotland Yard building in London, slated to be open as a Luxury Hotel by early next year.
With a net worth of $4bn, Yusuff Ali is placed 25th in the Rich List. The latest edition of Forbes Rich list saw a few business tycoons from the Southern Indian state Kerala who made into billionaire club. But Yusuff Ali is the only Keralite who made among TOP 25 of Indian Billionaires.
Among the Keralaites, Yusuff Ali is followed by Ravi Pillai, also a Gulf based businessman who is placed 38th in the list with a fortune of $3.1bn. George Muthoot is placed 59th ($1.92bn), Sunny Varky, Chairman of GEMS Schools ($1.9bn) 60th in the list, PNC Menon with 78th ($1.64bn) 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 Keralite in the list and son-in-law of Yusuffali MA.
Other prominent NRIs in the list include Micky Jagtiani of Landmar group and BR Shetty of NMC Group.India’s richest pharmaceutical magnate, Dilip Shanghvi, remains at No 2 with a net worth of $16.9bn.
Earlier this year, Sun Pharma acquired 14 drugs from Novartis in Japan for $293m, which will be distributed by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma.
Taking the third spot are the Hinduja brothers with a net worth of $15.2bn, up from $14.8bn last year. The four siblings – Srichand, Gopichand, Prakash, and Ashok – control multinational empire Hinduja Group, with businesses ranging from trucks and lubricants to banking and cable television. The group commissioned its much-delayed 1,040 megawatt thermal power unit in South India in July.
Tech magnate Azim Premji, who has led Wipro for five decades, slips one spot to No 4 on the list with a net worth of $15bn. Wipro, India’s third largest outsourcer, reported a 6 percent fall in net earnings to $304m in a recent quarter amid sluggish sales.
To boost growth, the company has been on a buying spree and its most recent acquisition was HealthPlan Services, an insurance-technology firm based in Florida.
Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia, said: “In a post-Brexit world, India appears a steady ship with an economy growing at 7 percent-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.”
