Royal family, CEOs to attend Ravi Pillai's daughter wedding

Thiruvananthapuram: Royal members from the Middle-East and the CEOs of various companies will be among those who are slated to attend the week-long multi-crore wedding ceremony of NRI businessman B Ravi Pillai's daughter in Kerala.

One of the richest Keralites, Pillai, the Chairman and Managing Director of R P Group of Companies, is reportedly spending crores for the big-fat wedding of his daughter Arathi Pillai and Kochi-based Adithya Vishnu at Asramam Maidan in his hometown Kollam on November 26.

Addressing a press meet here today, Pillai said the wedding ceremony will be attended by CEOs and other top officials of many global brands and royal family members from the Middle-East.

"The guests will stay for a week in Kerala for the ceremonies and it will surely boost the state's investment prospects," he said.

Asked about the total expenditure for the wedding, Pillai declined to reply.

According to him, many guests could invest in Kerala after their short stay.

The pre-wedding ceremonies will be marked by cultural programmes and performances of top-notch singers and dancers and actors of Mollywood and outside.

Pillai, also the Managing Director of Nasser S.Al Hajri Corporation, however, rubbished questions whether the multi-crore ceremony was an extravaganza.

"It is not an extravaganza. Besides conducting my daughter's marriage in a good manner, I am also spending around Rs 10 crore for humanitarian initiatives. As part of it, as many as 2,000 cancer patients in the state will be given Rs 10,000 each as medical aid," he said.

He also said that though the recession posed a great threat to the investment boom across the world, the investment climate in Kerala and India was good.

Pillai, a construction tycoon and major in hospitality industry, also said that the time is not yet to declare whether the business and investment environ in India has improved after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.

Pillai is said to have an asset base of Rs 13,900 crore.