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 September 2021, his net worth is estimated at US$2.5 billion.

Early life

Ravi Pillai was born on 2 September 1953 at

Chavara Chavara is a village in Karunagappally taluk, Kollam district, Kerala, India. It is a part of Kollam Lok Sabha constituency. The current MLA of the Chavara constituency is Dr. Sujith Vijayan Pillai of the LDF. Location and tourism Chavara ...

, a coastal town in Kollam, in the state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

in kadappa pillaiveetil family of farmers. He has a degree in Commerce from

Cochin University Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) is a state government-owned autonomous university in Kochi, Kerala, India. It was founded in 1971 and has three campuses: two in Kochi (Kalamassery and Ernakulam) and one in Kuttanad, Al ...

Career

During his time at university, he launched his first business, a

chit fund A chit fund is a type of rotating savings and credit association system practiced in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan other Asian countries. Chit fund schemes may be organized by financial institutions, or informally among friends, relative ...

Kollam 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 north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...

on reportedly borrowed money. 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 The Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited, abbreviated as FACT, is an Indian Public Sector Undertakings in India, central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India. It is h ...

Hindustan Newsprint Limited Hindustan Newsprint Ltd. (HNL) is a government company in the Indian Central Public Sector. HNL was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, on 7 June 1983, in Kottayam district, Kerala. HNL is a former fully owned subsidiary of Hindustan Pap ...

, and Cochin Refineries. However, a

labour strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Labor (economics), work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievance (labour), employee grievance ...

forced him to close down his business, after which he went to Saudi Arabia in 1978 where he started a small trading business. Two years later, he moved into construction, and established Nasser S. Al Hajri Corporation (NSH) with 150 employees, which has over the years grown to become the flagship company of his business group, RP Group, which is known to employ over 70,000 employees across its businesses. The shopping mall in South Kerala,

RP Mall RP Mall is a shopping mall located at Kozhikode, India. The mall contains a multiplex in its second and third floor. The multiplex has six screens spread over an area of 25,000 sq.ft has a total capacity of 610 seats. The multiplex contains fiv ...

city is owned by Pillai. Pillai has expanded his business to other countries including

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, and has interests in construction, hospitality, steel, cement, and oil and gas industries. RP Group is known to hold stakes in hotels such as Leela Kovalam, Hotel Raviz, Kollam, and WelcomHotel Raviz Kadavu, Kozhikode in his home state of Kerala. He is involved in health care through Upasana Hospital and Research Centre, a 300-bed multispecialty hospital in Kollam.,

Awards and recognition

Pillai received an honorary doctorate from

Excelsior College Excelsior University is a private online university in Albany, New York. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and comprises three schools: the School of Undergraduate Studies, the School of Graduate Studies, and the School of Nursing. I ...

, New York, and was awarded the

Pravasi Bharatiya Samman The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Overseas Indian Honour/Award) is the highest Indian award for Non-resident Indian and Overseas Citizen of India or an organisation or institution established and run by Non-Resident Indians or Persons of Indian Orig ...

by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

in 2008. In 2010, the Government of India included him in the Republic Day honours list for the civilian honour of

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

. ''

Arabian Business ''Arabian Business'' (''AB'') is a weekly business magazine published in Dubai and focusing on global and regional news analysis. The brand is aimed at the English- and Arabic-speaking communities and is published in both languages. Its circula ...

'' ranked him as the fourth most powerful Indian in the Middle East in 2015.

Personal life

Ravi Pillai is married to Geetha, and they live in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, United Arab Emirates. They have two children, a son Ganesh Ravi Pillai, and a daughter Dr. Arathi Ravi Pillai. He paid for his daughter Arathi's wedding with Dr. Adithya Vishnu at

in November 2015, at a total expense of ($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

to date. His son Ganesh Pillai married Anjana Suresh, an engineer, in September 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, B. Ravi 1953 births Living people Recipients of the Padma Shri in trade and industry Businesspeople from Kerala Indian chief executives Indian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates People from Kollam district Indian billionaires 20th-century Indian businesspeople Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman