B. Ravi Pillai | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 2 September 1953 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | University of Cochin |
| Occupation(s) | Founder, Chairman, RP Group |
| Spouse | Geetha Pillai |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Kollam K. Chandrasekhara Pillai (uncle) [1] |
B. Ravi Pillai (born 2 September 1953) is a Dubai-based Indian billionaire businessman. He is the founder and chairman of the RP Group. As of May 2023, his net worth is estimated at US$ 3.1 billion. [2]
Ravi Pillai was born on 2 September 1953 at Chavara, [3] a coastal town in Kollam, in the state of Kerala in Kadappa Pillai Veettil family. [4] He has a degree in Commerce from the University of Cochin. [5] [3]
During his time at university, he launched his first business, a chit fund in Kollam on reportedly borrowed money. [6] Later, he started an engineering contract business and worked for some of the major industrial houses in Kerala such as Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited, Hindustan Newsprint Limited, and Cochin Refineries. [6] However, a labour strike forced him to close down his business, after which he went to Saudi Arabia in 1978 where he started a small trading business. [7] Two years later, he moved into construction, and established Nasser S. Al Hajri Corporation (NSH) with 150 employees, [7] which has over the years grown to become the flagship company of his business group, [3] [7] RP Group, which is known to employ over 70,000 employees across its businesses. [5] The shopping mall in South Kerala, RP Mall at Kollam city is owned by Pillai. [8]
Pillai has expanded his business to other countries including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, and has interests in construction, hospitality, steel, cement, and oil and gas industries. [3] RP Group is known to hold stakes in hotels such as Leela Kovalam, Hotel Raviz, [9] Kollam, and WelcomHotel Raviz Kadavu, [10] Kozhikode in his home state of Kerala. [11] He is involved in health care through Upasana Hospital and Research Centre, a 300-bed multispecialty hospital in Kollam. [3] [12]
Pillai received an honorary doctorate from Excelsior College, New York, [5] and was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Government of India in 2008. [13] In 2010, the Government of India included him in the Republic Day honours list for the civilian honour of Padma Shri. [14]
Arabian Business ranked him as the fourth most powerful Indian in the Middle East in 2015. [5]
Ravi Pillai is married to Geetha, and they live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. [2] They have two children, a son Ganesh Ravi Pillai, and a daughter Arathi Ravi Pillai. [15]
He paid for his daughter Arathi's wedding with Adithya Vishnu at Kollam in November 2015, at a total expense of ₹55 crores ($7.5 million), in accordance with Nair customs and cultural traditions. The wedding was organized by the production designer who worked on the film, Baahubali: The Beginning ., and is considered the most expensive wedding in Kerala to date. [16] His son Ganesh Pillai married Anjana Suresh, an engineer, in September 2021. [17]
Mohanlal Viswanathan is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 400 films. Mohanlal's contributions to the Malayalam cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001, and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. Mohanlal was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN.
Halcyon Castle was built in 1932 in the princely state of Travancore, in the modern-day state of Kerala, India. It was constructed by M.R.Ry Sri Rama Varma Valiya Koil Thampuran, the consort of Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, as a retreat for their family. In 1964 Valiya Koil Thampuran sold the entire property to the Government of India; since then it has been a luxury hotel. A dispute arose when the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), which was running the hotel, sold it to a private hotel resort group. It has since then been taken under The Raviz Hotels and Resorts and been renovated and restored to its former glory.
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Narasimham is a 2000 Indian Malayalam-language action drama film directed by Shaji Kailas and written by Ranjith. Narasimham was released on 26 January 2000, India's 50th Republic Day, and ran for 200 days in theatres and grossed 20 crores worldwide. The film stars Mohanlal in the title role with Thilakan, Kanaka, N. F. Varghese, Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran and Jagathy Sreekumar in pivotal roles. Mammootty appears in a cameo role. The film was the first production of Aashirvad Cinemas, owned by Antony Perumbavoor, the former chauffeur of Mohanlal.
Yusuff Ali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader, popularly known as M. A. Yusuff Ali, is an Indian businessman and billionaire. He is the chairman and managing director of LuLu Group International, which owns the LuLu Hypermarket chain worldwide and LuLu International Shopping Mall. With an annual turnover of US$8.4 billion, LuLu Group International employs the largest number of Indian diaspora. According to Forbes Middle East, Yusuff Ali was ranked No. 1 in Top 100 Indian business owners in the Arab World 2018. As per Forbes billionaires list published in October 2023, he was ranked 27th richest Indian with net worth of US$6.9 billion.
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