B. Ravi Pillai | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 2 September 1953 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | University of Cochin |
| Occupation(s) | Founder, Chairman, RP Group |
| Spouse | Geetha Pillai |
| Children | 2 |
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. [1]
Ravi Pillai was born on 2 September 1953 at Chavara, [2] a coastal town in Kollam, in the state of Kerala in Kadappa Pillai Veettil family. [3] He has a degree in Commerce from the University of Cochin. [4] [2]
During his time at university, he launched his first business, a chit fund in Kollam on reportedly borrowed money. [5] 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. [5] 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. [6] Two years later, he moved into construction, and established Nasser S. Al Hajri Corporation (NSH) with 150 employees, [6] which has over the years grown to become the flagship company of his business group, [2] [6] RP Group, which is known to employ over 70,000 employees across its businesses. [4] The shopping mall in South Kerala, RP Mall at Kollam city is owned by Pillai. [7]
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. [2] RP Group is known to hold stakes in hotels such as Leela Kovalam, Hotel Raviz, [8] Kollam, and WelcomHotel Raviz Kadavu, [9] Kozhikode in his home state of Kerala. [10] He is involved in health care through Upasana Hospital and Research Centre, a 300-bed multispecialty hospital in Kollam. [2] [11]
Pillai received an honorary doctorate from Excelsior College, New York, [4] and was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Government of India in 2008. [12] In 2010, the Government of India included him in the Republic Day honours list for the civilian honour of Padma Shri. [13]
Arabian Business ranked him as the fourth most powerful Indian in the Middle East in 2015. [4]
Ravi Pillai is married to Geetha, and they live in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. [1] They have two children, a son Ganesh Ravi Pillai, and a daughter Dr. Arathi Ravi Pillai. [14]
He paid for his daughter Arathi's wedding with Dr. Adithya Vishnu at Kollam in November 2015, at a total expense of ₹55 crores ($7.5 million). 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.[ citation needed ] His son Ganesh Pillai married Anjana Suresh, an engineer, in September 2021. [15]
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-News18.
Kollam, also known by its former name Quilon, is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is 71 km (44 mi) north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake and the Kallada river. Kollam is the fourth largest city in Kerala and is known for cashew processing and coir manufacturing. It is the southern gateway to the Backwaters of Kerala and is a prominent tourist destination. Kollam is one of the most historic cities with continuous settlements in India. Geographically, Quilon formation seen around coastal cliffs of Ashtamudi Lake, represent sediments laid down in the Kerala basin that existed during Mio-Pliocene times.
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.
Venad was a medieval kingdom lying between the Western Ghat mountains and the Arabian Sea on the south-western tip of India with its headquarters at the port city of Kollam/Quilon. It was one of the major principalities of Kerala, along with kingdoms of Kannur (Kolathunadu), Kozhikode (Nediyiruppu), and Kochi (Perumpadappu) in medieval and early modern period.
Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup was a Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. He received the awards Padma Shri in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011, the fourth and second highest civilian honours from the Government of India. In 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by University of Kerala, Trivandrum. O. N. V. was known for his leftist leaning. He was a leader of All India Students Federation (AISF). He died on 13 February 2016 at KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram due to age-related illnesses, aged 84.
Eugene Pandala is an Indian architect, known for building with values of environmental sustainability.
Abubakar Abdul Rahim was an Indian politician, freedom fighter, and union minister. He was born to Sri Abubecker in Kollam. The government run District Hospital of Kollam district was renamed after him in commemoration.
Kollam Beach, also known as Mahatma Gandhi Beach, is a beach at Kollam city in the Indian state of Kerala. Kollam Beach is the first 'Beach Wedding Destination' in Kerala.
Karmayodha is a 2012 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film co-produced, written and directed by Major Ravi. It features Mohanlal, Mukesh, Murali Sharma, Sai Kumar, Mukesh, Bineesh Kodiyeri, Rajeev Pillai, Asha Sarath, Aishwarya Devan. The soundtrack was composed by M. G. Sreekumar; the background score was provided by Jeffrey Jonathan. The film deals about the illegal activities happening against women. The film received mixed reviews, and was just an average at the box office.
The RP MALL is a shopping mall in the city of Kollam, Kerala, owned by one of the business tycoons in India, B. Ravi Pillai's RP Group. The Mall is located on Kollam's high street. RP Mall was formerly known as K-Mall .
Gopinath Pillai is a Singaporean diplomat and businessman who served served as an ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Vellayani Arjunan was an Indian writer, scholar, and linguist from Kerala. He served two terms at the State Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications as chief editor from 1975 to 1988 and as director from 2001 to 2004. During his tenure at the institute, seven volumes of the 12-volume Malayalam encyclopedia Viswasahityavijnanakosam were published. He is credited with several publications, including children's literature and critical studies. His book Gaveshana Mekhala has been a prescribed text for the post graduate course M.A. Malayalam at the Aligarh Muslim University. A recipient of the Paramacharya Award from Sarojini Bhaskaran Memorial Charitable Public Trust, he was honored by the Government of India in 2008 with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Rajagopalan Krishnan Vaidyan was an Indian ayurvedic practitioner from the Indian state of Kerala and the president of the Association of Ayurvedic Physicians of Kerala.
Madhavan Pillai Ramakrishna Kurup was an Indian rocket scientist and the founder of the first solid rocket propellant plant in India at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. He is known to have contributed to the successful launching of the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV) as the director of the VSSC centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990.
Quilon or Coulão, officially Kollam is one of the ancient civilizations in India.It is one of the oldest port cities in the Malabar Coast and was the capital city of historic Venad Kingdom and Travancore Kingdom. Quilon was once an important trading port in India. It was also known as Desinganadu. It is now known as the "Cashew Capital of the World".
The Raviz Kollam, also known as The Raviz Ashtamudi, is a five-star hotel on the banks of the Ashtamudi lake in the city of Kollam, India. The hotel is owned by the Raviz Hotels & Resorts company and was designed by the Indian architect Eugene Pandala. Actors Mohanlal and Shahrukh Khan inaugurated the hotel on 19 August 2011.
Suresh Pillai is an Indian-born British chef and restaurateur. He worked as chef de partie, sous-chef, and chef de cuisine at various restaurants in London for 14 years, including Veeraswamy and Gymkhana. He holds British citizenship. In 2017, he contested in the British reality TV show MasterChef: The Professionals on BBC Two. He returned to India to become the corporate chef and culinary director of The Raviz. He also started his own restaurant chain branded Restaurant Chef Pillai.
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