Joy Alukkas, M A Yusuff Ali, Sunny Varkey among richest Malayalis in Forbes list

Joy Alukkas, chairman of the Joyalukkas Group, has emerged as the richest Malayali in the world. According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List, his wealth stands at $6.7 billion (around ₹59,000 crore), placing him at rank 566 globally. M A Yusuff Ali, chairman of Lulu Group, is second among Malayalis with a fortune of $5.4 billion, ranked 748 worldwide. Alukkas, who had a net worth of $4.4 billion in 2024, overtook Yusuff Ali, whose wealth had dropped from $7.6 billion. 

Among Indians, Mukesh Ambani (rank 18) of Reliance Industries tops the list with a net worth of $92.5 billion. Gautam Adani (rank 28) is second with $56.3 billion. Others in the list of top 100 richest people in the world include Savitri Jindal (rank 48), Shiv Nadar (rank 51), Dilip Shanghvi (rank 79), Cyrus Poonawalla (rank 86) and Kumar Birla (rank 97).

Malayalis on the Forbes list
(amounts in USD; global ranking in brackets as on Sept 12, 2025)

• Joy Alukkas, chairman of the Joyalukkas Group: $6.7 billion (566)
• M A Yusuff Ali, chairman of Lulu Group: $5.4 billion (748)
• Sunny Varkey, chairman of GEMS Education: $4.0 billion (1001)
• B Ravi Pillai, chairman of RP Group: $3.9 billion (1016)
• T S Kalyanaraman, managing director of Kalyan Jewellers: $3.6 billion (1108)
• S Gopalakrishnan, co-founder of Infosys: $3.5 billion (1168)
• Ramesh Kunhikannan, founder of Kaynes Technology: $3.0 billion (1323)
• Muthoot Finance promoters Sara George Muthoot, George Jacob Muthoot, George Thomas Muthoot, and George Alexander Muthoot: $2.5 billion each (1574)
• Shamsheer Vayalil, chairman of Burjeel Holdings: $1.9 billion (2001)
• S D Shibulal, co-founder of Infosys: $1.9 billion (2038)
• Kochouseph Chittilappilly, founder of V-Guard Industries: $1.4 billion (2555)