Yusuff Ali M.A.: The LuLu Group Chairman Who Took Lulu Retail Public

Yusuff Ali M.A. and LuLu’s Abu Dhabi Listing

Yusuff Ali M.A. is chairman and managing director of LuLu Group International, the Abu Dhabi retailer he joined in 1973 as a young man from Kerala. On November 6, 2024, its hypermarket business, Lulu Retail Holdings, priced its IPO at AED 2.04 a share and raised AED 6.32 billion (US$1.72 billion). Investors bid for more than 25 times the shares on offer. The company listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on November 14, 2024, with a market value of AED 21.07 billion.

Lulu Retail ended 2025 with record revenue of US$7.9 billion and 267 stores. Yusuff Ali is its chairman. Saifee Rupawala is the chief executive of the listed company. Yusuff Ali ranked 47th on the Forbes 2026 list of India’s 100 richest people, with a net worth of US$5.75 billion, the highest of any individual from Kerala on the list.

From Nattika to Abu Dhabi in 1973

Yusuff Ali grew up in Nattika, a village in Thrissur district, Kerala. He left Bombay on a ship called the Dumra and arrived at Dubai’s Rashid Port on December 31, 1973, after a six-day voyage. He was 18. From Dubai he rode about four hours to Abu Dhabi in a pickup truck on a single-lane road, to join the business his uncle, M.K. Abdullah, ran there.

The business began in the 1970s as a small trading centre. Yusuff Ali built up its import and wholesale distribution side, supplying food to a fast-growing city. That distribution base later grew into the LuLu hypermarket chain, with large stores selling groceries next to electronics and clothes. By the end of 2023 the group counted close to 70,000 staff of 46 nationalities and more than 260 hypermarkets and malls in 24 countries.

Titles He Holds at LuLu Group and Lulu Retail

Readers often ask whether Yusuff Ali is LuLu’s CEO. The answer depends on which company is meant. He is chairman and managing director of LuLu Group International, the private parent. At the listed Lulu Retail Holdings he is chairman, and Saifee Rupawala is chief executive.

Yusuff Ali’s Career in a Dated Table

We built this timeline from Lulu Retail’s releases, his official awards page and dated coverage of each event. The last column gives the result recorded at the time.

The November 2024 IPO by the Numbers

Lulu Retail’s offering was the largest IPO in the UAE in 2024 up to that date. Strong demand led the company to raise the offer from 25% to 30% of its shares. Total demand reached AED 135 billion (US$37 billion). Yusuff Ali said the group was “deeply grateful for the overwhelming support” from investors across the Gulf and beyond.

The founder kept control. With about 70% of the shares still with the group, the listing raised cash and set a public price without changing who runs the business. Readers new to listing-day mechanics can see how Indian exchanges handle it in our explainer on the IPO special pre-open session.

What Lulu Retail’s Accounts Show Since the IPO

Lulu Retail now reports every quarter, which gives a clear view of the business Yusuff Ali built. Revenue in 2025 rose 4.1% to US$7.9 billion (AED 29 billion), and net profit was US$205 million. That is a net margin of about 2.6%, by our calculation, and grocery makes up much of what the stores sell.

The company paid dividends of 7 fils a share for 2025, about US$197 million, which is close to the year’s whole net profit. Net debt was about US$2.5 billion at the end of 2025 and US$2.56 billion at June 30, 2026. Excluding leases, net debt was 1.2 times EBITDA. For 2026 the board approved an interim dividend of 3 fils a share, about US$84 million, equal to 95% of first-half profit.

Online Orders and Own-Brand Products at LuLu

Two numbers show where Lulu Retail is heading. Online sales grew 38.6% in 2025 and reached 7.3% of retail sales. By the second quarter of 2026 they were 8.9% of retail sales, at US$165 million for the quarter, up 53% on the year. Growing online orders also mean more returns to handle, and our collection of ecommerce return policy examples shows how retailers write those rules.

Private label, meaning products sold under LuLu’s own brands, made up 29.8% of sales in 2025 and 30.7% in the second quarter of 2026. LuLu Group also runs food processing and fruit and vegetable sourcing and export businesses. Indian suppliers who want to sell into such networks can start with our guide to distributorship opportunities in India.

The loyalty programme, called Happiness, had 8.4 million members at the end of 2025. Lulu Retail plans 50 more stores in the Gulf between 2026 and 2028, with most of the pipeline in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and a growing share of smaller formats such as Mini Markets and Express stores.

LuLu Malls and Other Investments in India

Yusuff Ali’s investments in India sit outside the listed Gulf company. LuLu opened its first large hypermarket in India in Kochi in 2013, and by 2015 a mall in Hyderabad was under construction. He sits on the board of Cochin International Airport, the first airport in India built with private participation. At the request of the Kerala government, he also acted as a mediator in the Kochi Smart City project when its Dubai partner, TECOM, came close to leaving.

He has also taken minority stakes in Kerala banks. In 2013 he bought 4.99% of Thrissur-based Catholic Syrian Bank, now CSB Bank, and 4.47% of Kochi-based Federal Bank. Abroad, he signed a US$170 million agreement with London’s Galliard Homes in 2015 to turn the site of the original Scotland Yard police station into a five-star hotel.

Honours From India, the UAE and Bahrain

His honours come from several governments. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam presented him with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in Mumbai in January 2005. He received the Padma Shri in May 2008, the first non-resident Indian from the Gulf to be given it. Bahrain made him the first non-Bahraini holder of the Wessam Al Bahrain in 2014. On April 9, 2021, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed presented him with the Abu Dhabi Award, the emirate’s highest civilian honour; he was the only Indian among 12 recipients that year.

Gulf residency schemes have also named him first. Oman gave him its long-term residence card in Muscat in September 2021. On February 14, 2022, at Riffa Palace, he became the first person to receive Bahrain’s new golden residency visa. He also holds the UAE golden visa and Saudi Arabia’s premium residency.

Middlesex University has awarded him an honorary doctorate, and his UK export company, Y International, won a Queen’s Award in 2017. In 2021 he ranked first on Forbes Middle East’s list of top Indian business leaders in the region. At that time LuLu Group had more than 55,000 employees from 45 nationalities and more than 190 hypermarkets, supermarkets and malls.

Flood Relief, Pandemic Giving and the 2021 Kochi Landing

Yusuff Ali’s best-documented giving is in Kerala. After the 2018 floods he gave Rs 8 crore through the Chief Minister’s relief fund and funds run by three Malayalam media houses, plus Dh5 million through the Khalifa bin Zayed Humanitarian Foundation. In August 2019 he pledged another Rs 5 crore to the same relief fund after fresh floods. During the Covid-19 pandemic he gave more than Rs 50 crore, including Rs 25 crore to the PM CARES Fund and Rs 10 crore to the Kerala Chief Minister’s fund.

His office lists relief work after the Latur and Gujarat earthquakes, the tsunami and the Uttarakhand floods. It also says he helped secure cremation grounds for Hindus and land for churches in the Gulf, and paid air fares home for Indians who could not afford them during a UAE amnesty. Dubai Cares has honoured him for supporting its primary education work.

On the morning of April 11, 2021, a helicopter carrying him and his wife came down on marshy land near the fisheries university campus at Panangad, near Kochi. Seven people were on board: the couple, three LuLu staff and two crew. All were taken to a private hospital in Kochi for observation, and hospital officials said everyone was safe. Emirates chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is another Gulf business leader profiled on Bizolaunch.

Lulu Retail After the Gulf Disruption of 2026

Regional disruption early in 2026 hit Lulu Retail’s second quarter. Revenue fell 2.3% and net profit dropped by about a quarter, though all stores stayed open through the period. Management says trading has started to normalise. It reported a return to modest growth in July 2026 and now expects to open more stores in 2026 than its earlier guidance of 18 to 20, because more of them are small formats.

For Yusuff Ali, the listing has changed how the business is judged. Shareholders now see margins, debt and store openings every quarter. Another Dubai family group, Al-Futtaim, is chasing the same Saudi shoppers through its Cenomi Retail stake, as our profile of Omar Al Futtaim sets out. The next tests for LuLu are a Saudi rollout and the pace of online growth.

Lulu Retail Filings, Award Lists and Coverage Cited

• Lulu Retail: Lulu’s IPO set share price at AED 2.04
• Lulu Retail: Q2 2026 management discussion and analysis
• Yusuffali.com: H1 2025 financial results of Lulu Retail
• Business Standard: Lulu IPO ends with 25x oversubscription, largest UAE IPO of the year to date
• Gulf News: Lulu Retail hits record $7.9 billion revenue in 2025
• Kerala Kaumudi: M A Yusuff Ali tops Malayalis in Forbes 2026 rich list
• Forbes Middle East: Top Indian Business Leaders in the Middle East 2021
• Khaleej Times: Lulu’s Yusuffali completes 50 years in the UAE
• Business Standard: Newsmaker, Yusuff Ali MA (2015)
• Yusuffali.com: Awards
• Yusuffali.com: Profile
• Emirates 24|7: Lulu’s Ali gets top Indian award (2008)
• Onmanorama: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince honours Yusuffali with top civilian award
• The National: Bahrain’s first golden visa given to chairman of Lulu
• News of Bahrain: LuLu chief receives long-term residence visa in Oman
• Gulf News: Yusuffali pledges Rs 50 million for flood-hit Kerala (2019)
• Business Standard: Chopper carrying Lulu Group head crash lands in Kerala