M. A. Yusuff Ali

M. A. Yusuff Ali is an Indian businessman and billionaire, chairman of LuLu Group International and of Lulu Retail Holdings, the Abu Dhabi-listed operator of the LuLu Hypermarket chain, which runs more than 260 stores across the Gulf. He left Kerala for Abu Dhabi in 1973 as a young man and built his uncle's trading business into one of the Gulf's largest retail groups. Among his many honours are the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (2005), the Padma Shri (2008) and the Abu Dhabi Award (2021), the emirate's highest civilian honour. ^{1 2}

Yusuff Ali was born on 15 November 1955 at Nattika, in Thrissur district, Kerala. ^{1 3} He studied at St. Xavier's High School in Karanchira and took a diploma in Business Management and Administration before leaving for Abu Dhabi in 1973, where he joined the business of his paternal uncle, M. K. Abdullah, the founder of the LuLu Group. ¹ He is married with three daughters and lives in Abu Dhabi. ¹ In April 2021 he survived uninjured when the helicopter carrying him crash-landed near Panangad, Kochi. ¹

In Abu Dhabi he developed the group's import and wholesale distribution business and, in the 1990s, launched the LuLu hypermarkets that became the group's public face. Lulu Retail Holdings listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in November 2024; the group's retail arm reports annual revenue of about US$7.9 billion. ¹ He is also chairman and managing director of Lulu International Holdings, holds stakes in several Indian banks including CSB Bank, Federal Bank and South Indian Bank, sits on the board of Cochin International Airport, and in 2016 bought the former Scotland Yard building in London. ^{1 2} His philanthropy is deliberately multi-faith: he took the initiative for a multi-faith funeral centre for the Indian community on 8.3 acres donated in Sharjah, helped find land for churches for the Christian community and cremation grounds for the Hindu community in the Gulf, and gave 9.5 crore rupees to Kerala flood relief in 2018 with a further pledge of 50 million rupees in 2019. ¹ He has been elected to the board of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce for a fifth term, and Forbes ranked him 47th on its India rich list of October 2026 with a net worth of US$5.75 billion. ¹

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