EMKE Group founder Yusuff Ali M.A. won the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Indian CEO Awards held at Dubai’s Armani Hotel. The retail king was one of 16 leaders honoured in the first ever event to recognise the achievements of Indian business leaders.

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Mr. Yusuff Ali M. A. was conferred with the prestigious Interfaith Harmony Award as part of the United Nation’s Interfaith Harmony Week initiatives held recently in Kuala Lumpur. Dato’ Azman Amin B Hassan, Director-General of Department of National Unity and Integration, Government of Malaysia, presented the award to him on the occasion of an international seminar on interfaith harmony organised jointly by the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and Kerala-based Madin Islamiyya Academy (MSA).

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The annual Swiss Ambassador’s Awards for the year 2012 were presented at a glittering function held at Fairmont Hotel in Abu Dhabi recently. Read more…

“I think this is a realistic Budget given the fact that India also has a lot of fiscal challenges as rest of the world. I look at four sectors i.e., capital markets, agriculture, infrastructure and aviation where Finance Minister has laid great emphasis. The huge allocation for basic infrastructure development is going to be a big booster for the large segment of both rural and urban population with direct impact on the health of Indian economy.

Allowing FDI in aviation sector and approval to import aviation fuel is sure to help the ailing Airlines industry and will make them more efficient I hope. Removal of bottlenecks in agriculture loans and highway constructions are big steps, as India’s next leap depends a lot on these two elements.

Significant allocation in the areas of food security and Rural Health schemes are extremely important steps keeping in mind the huge population which is going to be directly benefitting by this.

I agree with Pranab Mukherjee’s quote that “sometimes painful treatments are necessary for long term happiness” and this is reflected in some of the “not so popular” steps like controlling subsidies, hike in excise and service taxes, etc., while keeping corporate tax rates intact.

But as an NRI the only thing which gives me slight happiness is the deferment of implementation of Direct Tax Code (DTC) which would have adversely affected the large NRI population in the gulf especially the lower income group. This point was highlighted by me during the Prime Minster’s advisory council meeting at the just concluded Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.”