Saudi billionaire Ravi Pillai wants to pump $5 bn into India

Saudi Arabia-based industrial contracting tycoon Dr Ravi Pillai, who is also the largest employer of Indians in the Gulf, is betting big on India and is planning big-ticket investments across the construction, hospitality, real estate and healthcare sectors in the country.

Founder-managing director of the Bahrain-based construction services major Naseer S Al Hajri Corporation (NSH), and Petrochem, Saudi Arabia, billionaire Ravi Pillai is also in talks with Reliance Industries for taking up construction work at a petrochemical plant in Jamnagar, said a Business Standard report today. With an annual turnover of $2.5 billion, Pillai told BS he “Can bring up to $5 billion investments to India, along with my investment partners, who are keen on this market.”

[caption id=“attachment_329167” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Dr Pillai had earlier made headlines when he acquired the Leela, Kovalam property for Rs 500 crore”]  [/caption]

Dr Pillai had earlier made headlines when he acquired the Leela, Kovalam property for Rs 500 crore.Often known as the ‘Ambani of the Gulf’, Pillai has three other operational hotels, including the Versailles Hotel at Dubai, Kadavu Hotel at Kozhikode and The Raviz at Kollam and is now looking to ramp up his hotel presence in Mumbai and Delhi too.

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From a farming community in Kerala, Pillai always dreamed of being an entrepreneur. When he realised there was no money in farming, he started out by opening a chit fund by borrowing Rs 1 lakh. Pillai used the profits to reinvest in his construction company in Kerala. However, the local strikes forced him to shut shop and move to Gulf. Yet after all these years, it seems like Pillai has never held a grudge against his Kerala. He started a construction business once again in Saudi Arabia with around 150 people from Tamil Nadu and Rs 10 lakh of capital. Today, after three decades, he employs 60,000 people in the Middle East. He has also set up shop in Mumbai and plans to recruit about 20,000 people next year.