Paras Shahdadpuri Shahdadpuri had a flourishing career as an Indian diplomat with international stints – regionally his postings included Saudi Arabia and Libya. But by the late eighties, he decided to leave the foreign service and instead set up his own commodity trading business. On a flight back from London in 1987, he missed his connecting flight to India at Dubai airport, and ventured out for a day visit to the emirate. Enamoured by its potential, he set up Nikai Group in the emirate. Today, the company has interests in electronics, IT, home appliances, retail food chains and FMCG, with an annual turnover reportedly close to Dhs2bn. Winner of the prestigious Bharat Shiromani award, Shahdadpuri is also known for his philanthropic efforts. Related Stories How should regional and global retailers weather the Covid-19 crisis? Revealed: Influential Indians in the GCC: Business legends India and the GCC: Bound by history You might also like Sunil John Dr. Thumbay Moideen Vidya Chhabria Mohan Valrani K. Rajaram Dr. Adnan Chilwan Sanjiv Kakkar Ram Kumar Thota Raghu Malhotra Sunil Kaushal Atif Rahman Amit Jain Rishi Kapoor Vasu Shroff Anil Pillai Bal Krishen Rohit and Sharad Bachani Raju Ramesh and Sunil Paul Ayesha Depala John Paul Joy Alukkas Geet Bhalla and Digvijay Pratap Snehal and Sunita Hadani Nisha Jagtiani Kunal Kapoor Dino Varkey Ashish Panjabi Adeeb Ahamed Yogesh Mehta Yusuff Ali M.A. Ravi Pillai Micky Jagtiani Sunny Varkey Sunil Vaswani Shamsheer Vayalil Firoz Merchant Rajen Kilachand Azad Moopen Tony Jashanmal Joy Alukkas Dr. Zulekha Daud Dhananjay Datar Rizwan Sajan PNC Menon Sima Ved Shaji Ul Mulk Ramesh Prabhakar L.T. Pagarani Ram Buxani Surender Kandhari Sohan Roy Shyam Bhatia