Here Come The Sons-In-Law

The next generation seems well poised to carry the torch of Yusuff Ali and his LuLu Group

- Manu Balachandran

For quite some time now, Yusuff Ali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader, or Yusuff Ali MA as he is popularly known, had made it a habit of doing things all by himself.

After all, that’s how he went from being a small-time grocer, who migrated to the Middle East with barely any money at the age of 16, to eventually emerge as one of the world’s richest men and perhaps the most influential Indian in the region. With a personal wealth of $4.75 billion and some 48,000 employees under him, Ali runs the popular LuLu Hypermarkets across the Middle East and India, making him the 26th richest man in India, according to the 2018 Forbes India Rich List.

The LuLu Hypermarkets see 1.35 million shoppers a day and operate about 154 shopping centres across 23 countries. The group’s mall in Kerala’s Kochi is counted among one of the largest in India.

But, at 62, Ali knows he isn’t getting any younger. That’s perhaps why, over the past few years, he has turned to his sons-in-law to expand the group into newer areas. They were tasked with identifying their areas of interest and setting up businesses, with zero interference from their father-in-law.

“I have always made it clear to my sons-in law,” Ali tells Forbes India over a call. “They are free to do what they want to. I will be a guide, mentor and friend to them. But they were always asked to find their areas of interest and build the business. I have nothing to do with that.”

The eldest sonin-law, Shamsheer Vayalil, 41, runs VPS Healthcare, which operates 20 hospitals and over 125 medical centres, spread across the Middle East, Europe and India. Vayalil, who is on the 98th spot on the Rich List, is a radiologist by profession and is married to Ali’s eldest daughter Shabeena.