In a heartwarming act of kindness, United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian billionaire—LuLu Group chairman and vice chairman of the Abu Dhabi chamber, M A Yusuff Ali, has come to the rescue of a Kerala woman who was evicted from her house due to an unpaid loan of Rs 8 lakh.
Recently, the non-banking financial company (NBFC) Manappuram Finance evicted Sandhya, a local clothes shop worker, and her two children, aged 12 and 7, from their home.
In 2019, she and her husband took a loan of Rs 4 lakh from Manappuram Finance for the construction of their house in North Paravur, Kerala, under Kerala’s Life Housing Scheme, according to a report by Malayalam media house Mathrubhumi.
However, in 2021, Sandhya’s husband left her and their two children. The loan repayment stopped after that, and the loan amount increased to nearly Rs 8 lakh with interest.
The NBFC has issued several warnings to the family regarding the unpaid loan.
On Monday, October 14, NBFC officials entered Sandhya’s home and changed the locks after initiating foreclosure proceedings, leaving her and her children homeless.
Sandhya and her children, stranded on the road, sparked outrage among locals and were soon covered by local media, which caught Yusuff Ali’s attention, prompting him to offer the assistance.
According to One India, Yusuff Ali instructed his team to repay the loan and also provided her with Rs 10 lakh to start a fixed deposit.
Sandhya expressed her gratitude to Yusuff Ali, stating that without him, she and her children would have been in dire straits.
Who is M A Yusuff Ali?
Born in Nattika, Kerala’s Thrissur, Yusuff Ali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader, holds a diploma in Business Management and Administration.
Yusuff Ali moved to Abu Dhabi in 1973 to join his uncle’s small distribution business. He launched the first Lulu Hypermarket in 1995.
Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the Lulu Group is known in the Gulf for its chain of popular shopping malls and hypermarkets that cater to a wide range of ethnic groups in the region.
The LuLu Group has employed more than 70,000 people in 26 countries across the Middle East, Asia, the US, and Europe.
Apart from his hectic business life, Yusuff Ali is also active on the social front and is associated with various organizations. He is married to Shabira Yusuff Ali and has three children. His eldest daughter Sabeena is married to billionaire businessman Shamsheer Vayalil, who runs a separate healthcare business.
