A few days after the Lulu Mall opened in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, a video of some people offering namaz inside the mall went viral.

Lulu Group chairman M A Yusuff Ali was targeted from both sides. While the right wing groups threatened to recite the 'Sunderkand' and 'Hanuman Chalisa' inside the mall in retaliation, opposition parties like Samajwadi Party called Yusuff Ali an "RSS fund raiser" out to intensify religious polarisation in Uttar Pradesh.

But Yusuff Ali, the man in the eye of the storm, was unperturbed – he even seemed secretly delighted. "Yesterday, more than 1.32 lakh people had come to the mall. Last Sunday, I was told 1.60 lakh people had been to the mall," Yusuff Ali said at the fourth Manorama Conclave 2022 during a 'Special Session' with Yussuf Ali and Malabar Gold's M P Ahammed.

Yusuff Ali said ordinary people have no time for such controversies, which, according to him, were created by the media. Even then he did not have much to complain about. "This was free advertisement for us. That is why people are coming in droves to our mall," Yusuff Ali said with a smile.

M P Ahammad, too, said any publicity, even negative, was good for business.

In a lighter vein, Yusuff Ali said the Malabar Gold chairman could say this because he had brand ambassadors to absorb all the ire. "In my case, I am my own brand ambassador and all anger is directed at me," Yusuff Ali said.

Best country for business

Nonetheless, Yusuff Ali was highly guarded when he was asked in which country the businessman in him had felt the freest. "I am doing business in many countries. Each country has its own peculiarities and laws. All have their problems and also advantages. No country is fully free or absurdly strict," Yusuff Ali said.

He even compared countries to his eyes. "They are like our eyes. We cannot say one is better than the other. Both are equally important to us," Yusuff Ali said.

M P Ahammed, on the other hand, was clear which country offered him the greatest freedom. Singapore, he said.

"Singapore has very favourable laws for business. We just have to get online to conduct business in Singapore. We don't have to drag ourselves through government offices to get things done. Everything is digitally managed," Ahammed said.

He said that during COVID the Singapore government had asked his company to shut down showrooms. "But during the time we were closed, the staff salary came to the company's account without fail. The government even pays for the training we give our staff," Ahammed said.

The Singapore government is so employee-friendly that Ahammed said that he was reminded to pay 'late fee' to employees even if it was only for special occasions like an inauguration that they had spent long hours in the showroom.

Friends in politics

The closeness of big businessmen like Yusuff Ali with top political leaders had always generated intrigue. When Yusuff Ali said old laws should be changed, anchor Shani Prabhakar cheekily asked him to use his closeness with leaders to effect the change. Yusuff Ali said that his closeness to leaders had indeed caused many changes.

He said that not long ago non-resident Indians were not allowed to invest in India. "It was after we talked to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) that he declared that NRI investments would be treated as domestic investments," Yusuff Ali said. "Otherwise I would not have been able to open Lulu in India," he added.