Landmark’s Jagtiani tops list of Gulf’s wealthiest Indians
The cumulative wealth of the 30 richest Indians in the Gulf region comes in at an impressive $20 billion, Arabian Business reported on Sunday.
Micky Jagtiani, 60, head of retailing giant Landmark Group, which has its headquarters in Dubai, tops the list with a fortune of $3.2 billion.
Jagtiani, who started out with one store selling baby products in Bahrain in the early 1970s, presides over 900 stores in 15 countries, including India, and focuses on the middle-class shoppers. Jagtiani is India’s 18th-richest person.
In second place on Arabian Business’s list is Yousuf Ali, whose wealth is estimated at $ 1.75 billion. He is the managing director of EMKE Group, a company headquartered in Abu Dhabi.
EMKE is best known for its chain of shopping malls and Lulu hypermarkets. In 2010, Ali was appointed as an independent director of Air India.
B.R. Shetty, the managing director and CEO of the Abu Dhabi-based New Medical Center (NMC) Group of companies, is number three with on the list, with an aggregate wealth of $1.72 billion.
The family that owns Jumbo Electronics, the Chhabrias, is ranked number four on the list, with $1.3 billion. The company is headquartered in the UAE. The widow of Manohar Chhabria, the man who founded the company and who died in 2002, now runs the company, along with her three daughters.
At $ 1.2 billion, P.N.C. Menon, head of Sobha Developers, is number five on the list.
Menon, who has been granted Omani citizenship, moved to the country in 1976 to launch an interior decorating business. In 1995, spotting a gap in the real estate market back home in India, he founded Sobha Developers, named after his wife.
GEMS Education founder Sunny Varkey is ranked sixth, with a fortune estimated at $950 million. GEMS is one of the largest education providers in the UAE, and operates many schools.
Also at $900 million, Rajen Kilachand, chairman and president of the UAE-based Dodsal Group, occupies the seventh spot on the list. Among other things, the company runs 59 Pizza Hut and KFC eateries in India. Kilachand recently donated $25 million to Boston University, the school’s largest gift to date.
Tony Jashanmal, the executive director of the Jashanmal Group is number eight in the list, also with a fortune of $900 million. The company, which is headquartered in Dubai, is a wholesale distributor of consumer goods and services in the Gulf region.
Dr. Mohammed Ali, the founder of Galfar Engineering and Contracting, is number nine on the list, and has a fortune of $725 million. Paras Shahdadpuri, chairman of Nikai Group, rounds at the top 10 list and is worth $650 million.