Kenyan billionaire Narendra Raval's Devki beats taxman over $42 million bill

Kenyan steel and cement tycoon Narendra Raval has avoided tax bills totaling Sh5.4 billion ($41.6 million) after a series of wins against the Kenya Revenue Authority in a long fight over duty relief his companies received under the previous government.

The latest win came at the Tax Appeals Tribunal, which threw out a Sh1.44 billion ($11.1 million) demand for unpaid value-added tax that the revenue authority had raised against Maisha Mabati Mills Ltd., the roofing-sheet maker in Raval's Devki Group. The authority had earlier abandoned a separate Sh4 billion ($30.8 million) claim against two other Devki companies, Business Daily reported on Nov. 11.

The disputes trace back to a duty relief arrangement Raval struck with the Jubilee administration of former President Uhuru Kenyatta, which covered three of his companies. The National Treasury granted the companies exemptions on imported machinery and equipment between 2015 and 2023, then reversed them on the grounds that they had been issued without legal authority. The revenue authority followed with demands for the taxes that had been waived.

The Sh4 billion claim

The larger claim fell on Devki Steel Mills Ltd. and Cemtech Ltd., the company behind a clinker plant in West Pokot County that President William Ruto commissioned in April 2024. The revenue authority sought about Sh1.6 billion ($12.3 million) from Devki and Sh2.4 billion ($18.5 million) from Cemtech, made up of value-added tax, import duty, penalties and interest.

Devki challenged the reversal in the High Court in Mombasa, arguing that the exemptions were valid written approvals and that withdrawing them years later breached constitutional guarantees of fair administrative action. Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said in late 2024 that it would be illegal to pay the companies' taxes from public funds. In February, Devki Steel Mills sought an out-of-court settlement with the revenue authority over the Sh1.6 billion value-added tax portion.

From temple assistant to industrialist

Raval arrived in Kenya from Gujarat, India, in 1978 to work as a temple assistant. He later took a job at a steel mill, and after it closed in 1990 he borrowed money and opened a hardware shop in Nairobi's Gikomba Market with his wife. Two years later he began rolling steel in Athi River, the base of what became the Devki Group.

The group now makes steel, cement, roofing sheets and packaging, and has interests in minerals, aviation services and energy. It reports annual revenue of more than $1 billion and employs about 14,000 people across Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, where it bought cement maker Cimerwa Plc for $85 million in 2024. Its projects include a Sh45 billion clinker plant in West Pokot and a steel plant in Taita Taveta County.

Raval has faced other regulatory battles. In July 2025, the Competition Tribunal fined Devki Steel Mills Sh46.3 million as part of a penalty imposed on nine steelmakers over price-fixing, and his National Cement Company faced a demand for Sh193.2 million in back mining levies after a reduced rate it had enjoyed was revoked.

Figures were converted at KSh129.9 to the dollar.