Ravi Pillai Biography 
Ravi Pillai is an entrepreneur and business magnet from Kollam, Kerala who heads RP Group of companies. In 2010, he was honoured by Indian government by Padma Sri and he is also a recipient of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, 2008. Among the gulf Indians, he is the third richest, who owns an asset of 21,600 crore Indian rupees. Most recently he came to limelight for one of the most expensive marriages, he conducted for his daughter Aarathi and social media celebrated the news as well. He is associated with charity works which spends more than 10 crore rupees a year.
He was born in a poor farmer’s family in Chavara, Kollam on 3 September 1953. He did all jobs including ploughing and cleaning fields during his childhood. When he studied at college, he was granted only the exact bus fare. So he started chit fund to earn some pocket money and his teachers were his customers. He completed business administration at Cochin University. He has already decided that he would never go for a job and would do some business. He worked at Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore Limited, Hindustan Newsprint Limited, and Cochin Refineries. Once an astrologer predicted that Kerala is not his place and suggested him to go to west. That means, Gulf. Though he hesitated first, a strike at Velloor newsprint made him think twice. Thus he reached Gulf.
He started a trading business firm in gulf with 150 workers in 1978, which in the next phase became 6000 workers, breaking the myth that Indians are meant only for drivers or farming. There was no turning back after that. He owns RP Mall at Kollam and major stakes of Leela Hotel, Kovalam. Now his business empire is expanded into United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and India, which include construction, hospitality, steel, cement, and oil and gas industries. In Forbes List 2014, his name was listed at 988th position of The World's Billionaires.
Published: N/A
Updated: November 29, 2015
