Manama: Five Bahrain-based Indians have made it to two rankings by Forbes Middle East unveiling the region’s most successful Indian heads.
Regional construction major RP Group’s chairman and managing director Ravi Pillai, who calls Bahrain home and has a net worth of $2.9 billion, is ninth on this year’s list of Top 100 Indian Entrepreneurs by the publication with Al Namal Group and the VKL Group chairman Varghese Kurian at 71, being the only other Bahrain-based business leader in the ranking.
Some of the leaders inherited family businesses that have been operating in the region for decades, with 10 running businesses that are over 50 years old, said a statement.
More than 90 per cent of the entrepreneurs have their base in the UAE, with operations spread across the entire region. These tycoons have businesses spanning 24 different industries.
The diversified and retail industries dominated the business owner’s category with 20 and 13 entries respectively.
Top ten entrepreneurs in the Top 100 Indian Entrepreneurs category are:
1. Stallion Group chairman Sunil Vaswani (net worth: $2bn)
2. LuLu Group chairman Yusuffali MA (net worth: $4.2bn)
3. Landmark Group chairman Mukesh Jagtiani (net worth: $4.4bn)
4. NMC Hospitals and UAE Exchange founder Dr B R Shetty (net worth: $1.8bn)
5. GEMS Education chairman Sunny Varkey (net worth: $1.9bn)
6. Sobha Group chairman P N C Menon (net worth: $1.5bn)
7. DM Group chairman Dr Azad Moopen (net worth: $1.5bn)
8. Dodsal Group chairman Rajen Kilachand
9. RP Group’s chairman and managing director Ravi Pillai (net worth: $2.9bn)
10. VPS Healthcare managing director Dr Shamsheer Vayalil Parambath
The executive management category was dominated by the banking and finance industry, with 18 entries.
Bahrain-based alternative investment manager Investcorp’s co-chief executive Rishi Kapoor is the top-ranked executive from the kingdom, at 19.
Ranked 45, Karvy Computershare chief executive and head of Middle East Avneesh Mishra is the next Bahrain resident on the list, followed by Ahli United Bank Group deputy chief executive Sanjeev Baijal at 47.
“I do feel very honoured and humbled, especially because it comes from a very prestigious institution,” Mr Mishra told the GDN.
“I am very grateful to Forbes for recognising my work for the second year in a row. I dedicate this success to my family at home, my family at Karvy Computershare and Bahrain.”
The achievements of the Indian trailblazers were celebrated during an exclusive award ceremony in Dubai attended by around 300 prominent
individuals.
Top-ten executives in the Top 50 Indians in Executive Management category are:
1. PepsiCo International Mena chief executive Sanjeev Chadha.
2. Unilever Executive Vice President for Mena, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus Sanjiv Kakkar.
3. Doha Bank Group chief executive Raghavan Seetharaman.
4. Nakheel chief executive Sanjay Manchanda.
5. Dubai Islamic Bank chief executive Adnan Chilwan.
6. MasterCard president for Middle East and Africa Raghu Malhotra.
7. Emaar Properties Group chief operating officer Amit Jain.
8. KPMG Lower Gulf UAE and Oman chairman and chief executive Vijay Malhotra.
9. Jumbo Electronics chief executive Vishesh Bhatia.
10. EFS Facilities Services Group chief executive Tariq Chauhan.
avinash@gdn.com.bh
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