Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has received a major image boost with the Shanghai-based Hurun Report focusing on the super-rich from the state for the first time ever.

The development is particularly heartening for the state, given the adverse publicity it has received in recent days over its plan to cull stray dogs.

Interestingly, the honour for the state comes at a time when it has just crossed the landmark of attracting more than a trillion rupees (Dh57.48 billion) in annual remittances from its few millions of expatriates working around the world.

The major Keralite names on the Hurun Report — a compilation of the list of wealthy around the world — are all well-known in the state, and the large majority of them are based in the Middle East. In the order of their ranking on the list, seven of the leading names are M.A. Yousuf Ali of the Lulu group, P.N.C. Menon of Sobha group, Paul P. John of John Distilleries, T.S. Kalyanaraman of Kalyan Jewellers, Kochouseph Chittilappally of V-Guard Industries, Azad Moopen of Aster DM Healthcare and Synthite group’s C.V. Jacob.

Strikingly, most of the Keralite super-rich have made their wealth abroad. “One distinct pattern that we notice is that the large majority of Keralite billionaires have made their mark in business on foreign shores, established their empires there and then set up operations in India”, Anas Rahman Junaid, who heads the India division of Hurun Report told Gulf News.

The latest in that line is Azad Moopen, who recently established the Aster Medicity in Kochi.

And among the exceptions are V-Guard’s Kochouseph Chittilapally and Synthite group’s C.V. Jacob though the latter has business interests in multiple countries.

“When we honour these super-rich Keralites together, it would be like Rs80,000 crore [Rs800 billion] worth of asset holders coming together on one stage”, Junaid said.

The Hurun Report normally focuses on dollar billionaires, but not all on the list of super-rich from Kerala are in the dollar-billionaire league yet.

When it gets together the super-rich Keralites in Kochi next month, it will be only the second time that Hurun Report would be acknowledging the wealthy in India, after holding an event in Mumbai in 2013.