KOCHI:M A Yusuff Ali of Lulu Group has topped the richest Malayalees in the latest Forbes billionaire rankings. Yusuff Ali, improved his ranking by seven spots from 25th richest Indian in 2016 to 18th in 2017. According to Forbes, his wealth grew from $4 billion to $4.5 billion in the last 12 months. Ravi Pillai, chairman and MD of RP Group of companies established in 1979, is the second richest Malayali with $3.5 billion of net worth. Ravi Pillai’s wealth rose from $3.1 billion in 2016 to $3.5 billion in 2017.
Sunny Varkey is the third richest Malayali in the rankings with a net worth of $1.9 billion.
He is followed by Joy Alukkas($1.6 billion), Infosys co-founder S Gopalakrishnan ($1.6 billion), T S Kalyanaraman of Kalyan Jewellers($1.4 billion), Shamsheer Vayalil ($1.3 billion), S D Shibulal($1.1 billion) and Azad Moopen ($1 billion).
Mukesh Ambani of Reliance group topped the richest Indian list with a net worth of $23.2 billion. Yusuff Ali is the only Malayali in the Top-20 list.