THIRUVANANTHAPURAM — The $2.5 billion Nasser S Al-Hajri Corporation (NSHC), headed by Ravi Pillai, one of the recipients of this year’s award for outstanding overseas Indians, plans to enter India’s booming infrastructure industry. Addressing journalists at the Press Club here recently, he also expressed interest in building a high-speed corridor to link the southern and northern tips of Kerala.
“India offers immense potential for its diaspora to invest in infrastructure projects. Much progress has to be made in power, roads, ports, telecommunications and railway sectors to meet the growing demand in the country,” he said.
Pillai, who is also a director of the city-based Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), plans to invest one billion rupees in a medical tourism project in Kerala. “We will start a medical resort this year to give a much-needed boost to medical tourism in India,” he said.
The company, which has presence in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE, is also to start work on a road construction project in Chennai and in Uttar Pradesh next month.
Pillai, who also called on Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, said the chief minister had accepted his invitation to visit Bahrain next month to attend a function organized by a Kerala group.
“I urged the chief minister to expedite the Air Kerala project. Hundreds of people like me are ready to invest in the project if that would help lower the airfare on the sector. We will also buy bulk tickets for our employees,” he said.
Pillai plans to build star hotels in Delhi and Chennai “which would be better than the best in India” besides a 150-room five star hotel at Thevally on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam at a cost of 1.2 billion rupees.
“The investment climate of the state has improved a lot. But still we lack quality roads, quality power and potable water,” he said.
Asked if he plans to make any foray into the booming media industry in India, he said: “I have already burnt my fingers in the Middle East Television that had to be wound up due to poor management. Enough is enough.”
Pillai is also engaged in philanthropic activities and has set up the Upasana Hospital and Research Center in Kerala, which gives free treatment to the poor. “I’m now planning to adopt 100 orphans and set up a boarding school to provide them with world-class education. I have set apart 100 million rupees for this purpose,” he said.
Pillai, who has also donated land to 100 orphanages in Kerala, said he was exploring the possibility of micro-financing projects to help the unemployed and families with low income. He said his company would be inducting 20,000 Indians within the next three months. “The entire Gulf nations are witnessing an economic boom and it’s going to last for at least next ten years,” he said.
“To meet the growing demand in the construction sector, we are planning to recruit 20,000 employees from India including 5,000 engineers,” said Pillai, who is the managing director of the corporation.
The current staff strength of the company, which is engaged in construction work at oil and gas refineries and petrochemical companies, is 35,000 and 25,000 of them are Indians. The turnover of the company, which recently diversified into steel and cement plants, is $2.5 billion.
“I have signed many contracts with international clients and that will enable me to recruit more people,” he said.
Pillai recently received the Pravasi Samman award from Indian President Pratibha Patil at the annual conclave of overseas Indians held in New Delhi .
“We employ Indians in all kinds of jobs, from engineers, doctors and safety personnel to welders, fabricators and fitters. We need people with all kinds and levels of skills,” he said. “Over the past two years my employees have been remitting to India 700 million rupees every month on average and this is going to double soon,” he said.
