Top Indians in Arab World, by Forbes

Who has first on the list of top Indianss in the Arab World, according to Forbes magazine.

Yusuff Ali MA, Managing Director of LuLu Group International, came out on top among business owners and founders. Who are the rest?

The Arab world-wide ranking includes 170 Indian business owners, founders and C-level executives including CEOs and CFOs, based in the region.

Dr. Azad Moopen, Chairman DM Group; Mohan Valrani, Sr. Vice Chairman & MD, Al Shirawi Group of Companies; and BR Shetty of the UAE Exchange and NMC Healthcare were named.

Other awardees include Surya Subramanian, Group CFO, Emirates NBD; Rizwan Sajan, Founder & Chairman of Danube Group; Thumbay Moideen, Founder-President of Thumbay Group; V Shankar, Group Executive Director & CEO-EMEA & Americas, Standard Chartered; and, Adnan Chilwan, CEO of Dubai Islamic Bank.

While the ranking covered a geographical area stretching from the shores of the Arabian Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, most of the top Indians are to be found in the GCC.

Also Read: Shah Rukh in Dubai; graces Forbes ME listing top Indians in Arab World

A total of 120 business owners and founders made it to the ranking published by Forbes Middle East this year, with 22 per cent falling within the retail sector; 19 per cent of them in industrials and 7.5 per cent in the diversified sector.

Unsurprisingly, the UAE ranked first with 78 per cent of business owners choosing to establish their companies in the country.

Banking and finance was the most prevalent sector, with 13 CEOs. Sanjeev Chadha, CEO of PepsiCo AMEA, topped the CEO line-up.

Of the 40 CEOs that made the final cut, the UAE accounted for 37 entries, leagues ahead of the rest of the region; Qatar is home to just two and Oman, one.

Seven of the top 10 Indian CFOs are based in the UAE, two in Kuwait and one in Bahrain, with banking and finance ahead of the rest, but closely followed by real estate and construction, and retail. In the CFO category, DP World’s Yuvraj Narayan clinched top spot.

At the event to commemorate the leaders, Shah Rukh Khan addressed the audience about the deep relationship that exists between India and the Middle East, as well as his personal affection for the Arab world. The star welcomed questions from the audience and shared insight into his own life and work.

“I am happy with my fame: I would miss leaving my house and not having people waiting for me, I would miss people waving to me, I am happy being loved. I want no privacy; I shamelessly want to be a star, I think it’s the most beautiful thing to be. I am so happy that people don’t give me time to have lunch alone! I would rather have all this. Given the choice I would do it all over again,” he said.

Commenting further, the Bollywood actor added: “I have earned much more money than I deserve. I came from a lower middle class family, and we had a lot of issues in terms of money, but I saw my parents work very hard to educate me so because of that, I have never been attached to material goods. I have the big houses, amazing cars, the best boxes in the stadiums; people really pamper me. But If I had none of that, and I just had my acting, then I would be happy.”

T.P. Seetharam, Ambassador of India to the UAE, was guest of honour.
 

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