Bobby Arora

Bobby Arora (born January 1972) is a British billionaire businessman, trading director of the retail chain B&M.

Early life
Bobby was born to an Indian family in January 1972. His businessman father had immigrated to the UK from Delhi in the 1960s.

Career
In 1995, he went into business with his brother Simon Arora, and founded Orient Sourcing Services, importing homewares from Asia and supplying them to UK retail chains, before buying B&M in 2004, which was then a struggling grocery chain based in Blackpool. He has been trading director of B&M since 2005.

Jointly with his brothers Simon and Robin, they have made £2.1 billion since taking over the Blackpool-based grocery chain in 2004. Their earnings soared during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 rates relief
In March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave business rates relief and furlough payments to businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors. B&M was among several businesses classified as 'essential retailers' and as a result was allowed to remain open when other 'non-essential businesses had to close. In November 2020, B&M and other retailers were subject to a public outcry for having not handed back payments totalling £1.8 billion intended for propping up retailers prevented from trading due to restrictions, despite making record profits. The retailer declared £296m in profit and as a result issued a £250m special dividend despite having received £38m in business rates relief and £3.7m in furlough payments. The Arora brothers received a combined total of £37m of the special dividend due to their 15% shareholding which is said to worth at least £750m. The firm agreed to pay £80m in business rate relief it had saved, a move mirrored by major supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

Personal life
Simon describes his brother Bobby as a "born trader". Arora lives in Hale Barns near Altrincham, next door to his brother Simon. In May 2023 a helicopter carrying Prime Minister Rishi Sunak landed in Bobby Arora's back garden.