Forbes Middle East has unveiled its 2016 rankings of the Top 100 Indian Entrepreneurs in the Arab World and the Top 50 Indians in Executive Management in both multinationals and Arab companies.

Sunil Vaswani, group chairman of the Stallion Group, tops the list of entrepreneurs, while Yusuf Ali M A, managing director of Lulu Group International, is listed second and Mukesh Jagtiani, chairman of Landmark Group, is third on the list.

Some of the leaders inherited family businesses that have been operating in the region for decades, with 10 running businesses that are over 50 years old. Over 90 per cent of the entrepreneurs have their base in the UAE, with their operations spread across the entire region. These tycoons have businesses spanning 24 different industries.

Forbes Middle East held an exclusive award ceremony last night (May 3) to celebrate these Indian trailblazers. The fourth Top Indian Leaders in the Arab World 2016 event was held in Dubai and attended by around 300 prominent individuals. T P Seetharam, Ambassador of India to the UAE, graced the occasion as guest of honor.

Seetharam said: “The contribution of Indian businesspeople in the region is well known and acknowledged to be very significant and this is expected to grow in years to come. In the last year, we have not only seen the relationships between people to people prosper but also observed strengthening of the government to government bond. This confirms that our ties with the region is going beyond the transactional relationship into more on a comprehensive strategic partnership. I would like to congratulate everyone.”

Top 10 entrepreneurs in the Top 100 Indian Entrepreneurs category
• Sunil Vaswani, group chairman of the Stallion Group (net worth: $2 billion)
• Yusuf Ali M A, managing director of Lulu Group International ($4.2 billion)
• Mukesh Jagtiani, chairman of Landmark Group ($4.4 billion)
• Dr B R Shetty, founder of NMC Hospitals and UAE Exchange ($1.8 billion)
• Sunny Varkey, chairman of GEMS Education ($1.9 billion)
• P N C Menon, chairman of Sobha Group ($1.5 billion)
• Azad Moopen, chairman of DM Group ($1.5 billion)
• Rajen Kilachand, chairman of Dodsal Group
• B Ravi Pillai, chairman and managing director of RP Group ($2.9 billion)
• Dr Shamsheer Vayalil Parambath, managing director of VPS Healthcare
All of the entrepreneurs have their base in the UAE.
Top 10 executives in the Top 50 Indians in Executive Management category
• Sanjeev Chadha, CEO for Asia, Mena at PepsiCo International (based in UAE);
• Sanjiv Kakkar, executive vice president for Mena, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus at Unilever (based in the UAE);
• Raghavan Seetharaman, group CEO at Doha Bank (based in Qatar);
• Sanjay Manchanda, CEO of Nakheel (based in UAE);
• Adnan Chilwan, group CEO at Dubai Islamic Bank (based in UAE);
• Raghu Malhotra, president- Middle East and Africa for MasterCard (based in UAE);
• Amit Jain, group COO discharging duties of CEO at Emaar Properties (based in UAE);
• Vijay Malhotra, chairman and CEO- UAE and Oman at KPMG Lower Gulf (based in UAE);
• Vishesh Bhatia, CEO at Jumbo Electronics (based in UAE); and
• Tariq Chauhan, group CEO at EFS Facilities Services Group (based in UAE).

The list of 100 entrepreneurs was shortlisted from a list of 250 and the research was based data collected from primary resources and a questionnaire filled by them, said a statement. - TradeArabia News Service