1. TALES OF MALAYALI MOGULSComing from a milieu where money-making was considered a sin, their small trader background was their only seed capital
Continued from P1
Y
usuffali created a retail empire that
originated in the UAE. He recalls
those early days: “I landed in Dubai
in a ship named Dumra on December 31,
1973. I found Abu Dhabi a town without a
steadysupplyof electricityorapropersew-
age system. Whenever temperatures rose
– sometimes up to 52 degree Celsius, along
with 84% humidity – we used to sleep on
the roof.”
Pillaiisafirst-generationentrepreneur
with roots in Chavara, near Kollam; his
parents were farmers. Between NSH
and 25 other companies he owns, they gen-
erate revenues of Rs26,800 crore annually.
Otherthanconstruction,Pillaihasastrong
presence in travel and tourism, healthcare
andeducation,mainlyinIndiaandtheMid-
dle East.
Often called 'Ambani of the Gulf', Pillai
shotintolimelightwhenheacquiredLeela
ResortsinKovalamfromtheMumbai-based
family of C P Krishnan Nair, who was for
decadesoneof thebest-knownfacesof Ma-
layali entrepreneurship. (For the last few
years Capt Nair’s elder son Vivek has been
working hard to reduce the group's large
debt burden.)
P N C Menon is the third-richest Ma-
layali in the world with a net worth of
Rs13,000 crore. His holding company, the
Dubai-headquartered PNC Investments,
generated revenues of 1.2 billion dirham
(Rs2,107crore)during2013,withnetprofits
of 88.4millionDhs(Rs150crore).Havinglost
his father when he was 10, Menon discon-
tinued college to become an interior de-
signer at Thrissur where his father once
ran a small business. One day in 1976 his
fortunes changed when he met Brig Gen
Suleiman Al-Adawi from Oman in the
lobby of a Kochi hotel. The general invited
him to Muscat where the duo
foundedaninteriordesignfirmwithabank
loan of 3,000 riyals. Talk of the
right connection!
Small Towns, Big Dreams
Yusuffali’s companies generated reve-
nuesof Rs37,000crorein2014.Helearnt
the tricks of the trade during his four-year
stay in Ahmedabad, where his paternal
uncleranageneralstore.In1973,hemoved
to Abu Dhabi where his father and uncle
ranMKStores,akiranashop.“In1983came
my first foreign trip. With 10 years of expe-
rience in retailing, I went to Singapore,
Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.
Australia’ssupermarketsimpressedmethe
most. I decided to set up big supermarkets
in Abu Dhabi instead of small grocery
shops,” Yusuffali says.
Running In The Family
Theirbusinessescouldn’tbemorediffer-
ent but a common thread unites T S
Kalyanaraman,GeorgeMuthootandSunny
Varkey–theirfamiliesgavethemafounda-
tion on which to build their futures.
Varkey,whohasanetworthof Rs11,200
crore, is fourth on the list. A second-gener-
ation entrepreneur, Varkey came to Dubai
in 1959 at the age of two along with his
banker father. During their free time, his
parents gave English lessons to workers;
their efforts culminated in a formal school
– Our Own English High School. When his
father retired in 1980, Varkey took over the
reins of the organisation and started ex-
panding, spurred by the belief that there
was a huge potential for quality education
not only in the Middle East, or on the sub-
continent, but also in developed countries.
His company Gems Education, headquar-
tered in Dubai, operates a global network
of schools and pre-schools in the Middle
East, Africa, various parts of Asia, the UK
and the US.
A third-generation businessman, Kaly-
anaraman started helping his father right
fromschool,inthefamily’stextilebusiness.
In 1993, he ventured into gold jewellery re-
tail, which pushed him into the list of bil-
lionaires. As chairman and MD of the
Thrissur-headquarteredKalyanJewellers,
Kalyanaraman is sixth in the list with an
estimated net worth of Rs6,600 crore. His
company generated revenues of Rs 7,400
crore in 2014. During that time, private eq-
uityfirmWarburgPincusinvestedRs1,200
crore in the company for a minority stake.
The company now has 77 stores in India,
the UAE and Kuwait, and plans to open 16
more by March 2016. Says Kalyanaraman,
“Ineverexpectedtoberichlikethis.While
Ifirststartedajewelleryshowroomin1993,
I was using an Ambassador. Then, I used a
Maruti 800. Now, between me and my two
sons,weownthreeRollsRoyces".Andthen
are his private jets (but more of that later).
MGGeorgeMuthoot,chairmanof Mut-
hoot Group, takes seventh position with a
net worth of Rs5,550 crore. Between Muth-
oot and his 12 family members, they own
29.8 crore shares of Muthoot Finance, the
largest gold loan company in the country.
Muthootisathird-generationbusinessman
withoriginsinKozhencherry,asmalltown
south-east of Kochi, where his group is
headquartered. A graduate in mechanical
engineering from the Manipal Institute of
Technology, he entered the business in the
1970s.Thegrouphassincespreadintoedu-
cation, healthcare, IT, plantations, travel
and tourism, and power generation. In
Kerala, gold loans have become synony-
mous with Muthoot Finance.
Class Act
Senapathy ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan, co-
founder and one-time CEO of Infosys,
India’s second-largest software firm, is the
fifth-richest Malayali. Along with wife
Sudha and daughter Meghana, he holds
morethan3.9croresharesof thecompany,
with an estimated market cap of Rs7,860
crore. A graduate in physics from the Uni-
versity of Kerala, Gopalakrishan did his
master's in computer science at the Indian
Institute of Technology–Madras.
Like Gopalakrishnan, S D Shibulal, an-
other co-founder of Infosys (and the last of
theowner-CEOs),comesinninthintherich
list with a net worth of Rs5,250 crore. He,
too, is a product of the University of Kera-
la, where he did his master's in physics. In
Shibulal’s case, the street value of his 2.3
crore shares of Infosys and that of his wife
and children have been added up to calcu-
late his net worth, along with the value of
his more than 700 apartments in the US.
Azad Moopen, chairman of the Dubai-
headquartered Aster DM Healthcare LLC,
is in the eighth position with a net worth
of Rs5,500 crore. An MBBS gold medallist,
he started his career as a lecturer at the
Calicut Medical College in 1982 before ar-
rivinginDubaifiveyearslater.AsterGroup
now operates close to 260 hospitals and
pharmacies in the Middle East and India.
Moopen also owns a medical college in
Wayanad district of Kerala. Moopen told
TOI, “Everybody in my family, including
my father and brothers, have been in busi-
ness. I was an exception; I went into aca-
demics.” But clearly, business ran in his
blood, too.
In tenth position is Arun Kumar,
founder and group CEO of Strides
Arcolab, a pharma company. With roots in
Kollamdistrict,hewasbroughtupinOoty,
worked in Mumbai, and shifted the head-
quarters of the company he founded 25
years ago to Bengaluru. In 2013, his com-
pany sold Agila Specialties, one of its divi-
sions, to US pharma giant Mylan for
$1.75 billion. According to industry
sources, he has sold businesses worth
$2.2 billion in the past three years. His per-
sonal net worth is estimated at Rs4,800
crore. He still controls Strides Arcolab,
along with Sequent Scientific and Alivira
Animal Health. Agnus Capital, his
family's investment vehicle, has stakes
in a number of high-value start-ups.
Sprawling Empires
The scale of operations of the Malayali
barons from the Middle East is im-
mense. Some of them operate in almost all
continents. It is estimated that nearly 7.1
lakh customers walk into Yusuffali’s Lulu
hypermarkets daily, mainly in the Middle
East. His company sources from 51 coun-
tries and has set up procurement offices in
36nationsaroundtheworld.Likewise,Ravi
Pillaialsooperatesacrossavastgeography
–fromAfricatoAustralia,employing90,000
people. “Within two months, we’ll have 1
lakh employees as we are recruiting 10,000
workers for our projects in Kuwait,” says
Pillai.
Live Life King-Size
They may not be deliberately
ostentatiousbutallthesemagnateslive
luxuriously – and peripatetically. Yusuf-
fali’s staff keeps 40 cars, including a fleet
of Rolls Royces, BMWs and Mercedes-Ben-
zes, and a private executive jet Embraer
Legacy 650 waiting for him in Dubai or Ko-
chi.Andwhereverneeded,herentshelicop-
ters locally for short trips. Apart from resi-
dential homes in Abu Dhabi, London and
Kochi, he owns commercial properties in
London, Muscat, Doha, Mumbai and New
Delhi. Kalyanaraman owns two jets, an
Embraer Phenom 100 and an Embraer
Legacy 650, as well as a Bell 427 helicopter,
whichallowhimtohopbetweenhisstores.
They may not be deliberately
ostentatious but all these magnates
live luxuriously. Yusuffali’s staff
keeps 40 cars, including a
fleet of Rolls Royces,
BMWs and Mercedes-
Benzes, and a private
executive jet Embraer
Legacy 650 waiting for
him in Dubai or Kochi. And
wherever needed, he rents
helicopters locally for short trips.
HI-FLYERS
F
or listed Indian companies, we used
the direct valuation method, where
the wealth was calculated using
‘street’or stock market value. In cases
where multiple family members held
significant number of shares of a company,
we took the wealth of the family head
combining the shares held by immediate
relatives. MG George
Muthoot, seventh on
the list, is a case
in point.
In some rare
instances, where
private companies
revealed their numbers,
we again employed a
direct method of how
the assets of these
entrepreneurial
companies exceeded
the total liabilities. But
for valuing promoter wealth of most
private companies – where business
numbers were not forthcoming – we used
the comparable company analysis (CCA)
methodology. We used price-to-earnings
(PE) multiple or rule-of-thumb (a method
of calculating wealth based on company
revenues and inventory) in arriving at a fair
value of the wealth these entrepreneurs
made over decades.
Valuing Aster DM Healthcare of Dr Azad
Moopen involved identifying peer
companies, London-listed Al-Noor and
NMC Healthcare, looking at their current
market value and PE multiples. Like Aster
DM, both Al-Noor and NMC too have
significant part of their businesses flowing
in from the Middle East. Sunny Varkey’s
education empire Gems Education and TS
Kalyanaraman’s Kalyan Jewellers were
valued based on recent
private equity interest in
their respective businesses,
which is used as a
benchmark in valuing
private enterprises globally.
During the course of the
valuation process, we
trawled through annual
reports, profit and loss
accounts and draft
prospectuses before
reaching a final list of
Malayali rainmakers.
The most notable exceptions are the
Dubai-headquartered gold retailer Joy
Alukkas and the Chennai-based KM
Mammen of MRF Ltd, who richly deserved
to be in the list. We did not have enough
verifiable data like the shareholding
pattern and revenues of holding company,
Joyalukkas Jewellery, in the first case. And
the Mammens were strong contenders for
the Top 10 but fell below our cut-off despite
being arguably the best-known business
house out of Kerala.
HOW WE DID IT
THE TOP 10: WORLD’S RICHEST MALAYALIS THE TIMES OF INDIA, KOCHI
THURSDAY, JUNE 4, 20152
THE RICH AND THE ROOTED
I was a contractor with
public enterprises in Kerala
before I came to the Middle East.
A strike at one of the
undertakings forced
me to look for opportunity
elsewhere. Of the 500
people working with me,
I took 200 to Saudi Arabia. If
the strike hadn't happened, I
wouldn't have made my fortune
— Ravi Pillai
I never expected to
be rich like this.
While I first started
a jewellery showroom in 1993,
I was using an Ambassador.
Then, I used a Maruti 800. Now,
between me and my two sons, we
own three Rolls Royces
— T S Kalyanaraman
Everybody in my family,
including my father and
brothers,
have been in
business. I was an
exception; I went
into academics
— Azad Moopen
Do you know that I don’t
have to pay for fish back
in my native village?
I have given jobs to the
youth from all
communities, some
of whom are from
fishermen’s
families. So, when
I’m around, their
parents always make sure
that I get fresh fish
— M A Yusuffali
RIYALESTATE
Having lost
his father when he
was 10, PNC Menon
discontinued college to
become an interior
designer at Thrissur
where his father once ran
a small business. One day
in 1976 his fortunes
changed when he met
Brig Gen Suleiman Al-
Adawi from Oman in the
lobby of a Kochi hotel.
The general invited him
to Muscat where the duo
founded an interior
design firm with
a bank loan
of 3,000
riyals.
Talk of
the right
connection!
DIRTY PICTURE T K Deepaprasad
MOUNTING MENACE: With World Environment Day just around the corner, the city is far from being green
and clean. The underside of Pullepady ROB is filled with garbage dumped by people who pass through the
area. Motorists complain of the severe stench and the negligence of corporation authorities in removing it
Kochi: Even at a time when
Kochi corporation claims
that they have almost com-
pleted pre-monsoon cleaning
works, opposition council-
lors alleged the local body
was making false claims and
the city would witness water-
logging as heavy rains lash
acrossthecity.
“Apartfromthefewdrain-
cleaning works carried out
by Kochi Metro authorities
andcanalcleaningundertak-
en at selected areas, the local
body has not done anything
significant,” said councillor
MAnilkumar.
The opposition council-
lors wanted the local body
leadership to take a reality
check. They said the mayor
and team should get in touch
with city residents to under-
standthesituation.
“Concretemeasureshave
to be taken to ensure that wa-
ter flows freely through
drains and canals. Flooding
and waterlogging would re-
sult in outbreak of conta-
giousdiseases,”saidcouncil-
lor V K Prakesh.
Speaking about plan fund
utilization, they said that
corporation claims to have
used 65% of plan funds dur-
ing 2014-15. “This is not true.
The65%consistsof spillover
funds from the previous
year,” added Anil.
“The corporation does
not have sufficient funds or
equipment to undertake
large-scale dredging works.
The councillors are aware of
the ground reality and they
aremakingapoliticalstunt,”
said works standing commit-
tee chairperson Soumini
Jain. TNN
Opposition trashes
civic body’s claim
Kochi: The first thing
that 47-year-old Muruge-
san did when he woke up
from an 18-hour surgery
was to take a deep
breath.
After discovering a
big tumour in his nose,
he had stopped breath-
ing for almost a year. It
had also left him blind in
one eye and with partial
sight in the other.
Two years after he
was detected with chon-
drosarcoma or cancer of
the cartilage, the tu-
mour was surgically re-
moved.
“It started as a small
boil in the nostril but no-
body was ready to oper-
ate. We moved from
hospital to hospital,
but there was no
solution. Doctors said
that surgery could affect
the nerves, and that
he may die on the oper-
ation table,” said his
wife Sujatha Muruge-
san.
A gardener, Muruge-
san stopped going out as
the tumour had become
so huge that people start-
ed looking at him with
fear and disgust.
The tumour looked
like a huge ball covering
his face, disfiguring it
completely.
“Every night, our
family went to bed think-
ing that he may not wake
up the next day. He could
not eat, watch TV, read
papers as the tumour
had become so huge,”
said Sujatha.
“The operation to re-
move the tumour took
about 12 hours. The face
was also reset through a
procedure called cranio-
facial resection. He will
need a few plastic sur-
geries more to complete
the reconstruction of
his face. There is no need
for chemotherapy or ra-
diation. Most doctors
who examined him nev-
er took a second MRI to
check the status of his
tumour which was not
touching any nerve,”
said Dr Thomas Varugh-
ese, surgical oncologist
at Renai Medicity.
Murugesan said that
almost 60% of his face
has been restored. “I feel
like I am born again,” he
said.
The specialists in the
team that operated on
Murugesan included
neurosurgeon Dr P Sub-
ramaniam, plastic sur-
geon Dr Jose Tharayil
and anesthesiologist Dr
Santosh Mohan.
A tumour that covered his
face and left him ‘breathless’
Kochi: The Kerala Coastal Zone
Management Authority
(KCZMA) has issued directions
to the National Centre for Earth
Sciences (CESS) to check Chera-
nelloor panchayat’s claims in
seeking exemption from coastal
regulationzone(CRZ)norms.
“WewillaskCESStocategor-
iseusasanon-CRZareaasthesa-
linity level of Chittoor puzha
(the river separating the pan-
chayat from Kochi corporation)
is only 4.26 PPT (particles per
thousand),” said panchayat
member J Paskal.
Salinitylevelsfallasonetrav-
els north from Kochi estuary to-
wardsCheranelloor.
Panchayat officials said that
if the salinity level was less than
5 PPT, then Cheranelloor would
not come under CRZ notifica-
tion.
The panchayat had passed a
resolution in March asking
KCZMA to test backwater salini-
ty levels this summer to deter-
mine whether the area falls un-
der coastal regulation zone
(CRZ) so as to give permission to
constructdwellingunits.
“The panchayat had raised
the issue of PPT levels in sum-
mer. The salinity levels are mea-
sured in the peak summer. The
communication has come little
late. But the authority can use
the existing coastal zone man-
agement plan (CZMP) of the cor-
poration as an indicator. As per
the CRZ notification, salinity up
to 5 PPT will not attract the re-
strictive provision,” said advo-
cateEbenserChullikkat.
After checking salinity lev-
els, CESS will make appropriate
changes to the draft coastal zone
management plan. This would
pave way for the construction
and redevelopment of houses in
thepanchayat.
There are over 100 applica-
tions pending seeking permis-
sion to construct and renovate
homes. “We hope that CESS will
lookintotheissueimmediately,”
Paskaladded.
Cheranelloor seeks
way out of CRZ
Kochi:Inthewakeof protestsheldinitsprem-
ises, authorities of Cochin International Air-
port Ltd (Cial) on Wednesday said that persons
involvedinsuchactivitiesmayhavetofacecon-
temptof courtforviolatingahighcourtorder.
In a release issued by Cial, authorities said
that a 2013 order by Kerala high court had de-
clared airport and its premises as protest-free
areas considering its nature as high security
zone.
“As per the court order on August 14, 2013,
the airport and surrounding areas of 500m
come under high security zone. The order had
also stated that no protests or dharnas should
be held within the high
security zone causing difficulties for passen-
gers, employees of airlines, airport staff, cargo
movementandvehicles,”thereleasesaid.
Cial protesters may face contempt charges
Sudha.Nambudiri
@timesgroup.com
CESS ROPED IN
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
After discovering a
big tumour in his nose,
47-year-old Murugesan
had stopped breathing
for almost a year.
It had also left him
blind in one eye and
with partial sight in
the other
CANAL CLEANING
TIMES NEWS NETWORK