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Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
The city betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, aka ₹814.04 crore
MUMBAI: Mumbai has again been buried under the debris of broken promises. The Mumbai Port Authority's (MbPA) cynical parceling of 215 acres of land effectively means that, instead of a planned mixed-use development of the almost contiguous eastern waterfront, we will be stuck with ad hoc commercial or industrial monoliths blocking out the sky and refreshing sea air. This is the thin end of the wedge, the beginning of the inevitable fall of dominoes. The city betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, aka ₹ 814.04 crore More space earmarked for public good will be swallowed by private greed. Covert as well: ₹814.04 crore is a clear undervaluation of prime, shore-line land; remember, the surrendered non-dock-use, 966-hectare bonanza stretches from Colaba to Wadala. The incredible excuse offered is that in toto development could only happen if the entire area was available; much of it is currently tenanted, and only untenant parcels are up for the 30-year lease. Wow! So MbPA's 'solution' is to further encumber the valuable stretch, and thus make in toto development even less possible. Moreover, as Pankaj Joshi pointed out in these columns last Thursday, the land is not MbPA's to hand out. When port activities shifted to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), non-dock-use lots were to be returned to the city for purposes such as 'urban planning infrastructure, economic, environmental, housing development, tourism'. There's scary déjà vu about the way a second windfall has blown away, and with it the opportunity to make Mumbai livable, workable, breathable again. Just as the Bombay Port Trust (as MbPA was earlier called) had been gifted land for economically important shipping, millowners were granted long leases at nominal rates for Bombay's other wealth-creator. In 1991, under Charles Correa's visionary masterplan, Development Control Regulation (DCR) 58 ordained a three-way division of freed-up mill-land: one-third each for public utilities including open recreational spaces and affordable housing; the rest retained by original owners for private development. But in 2001, Vilasrao Deshmukh's government castrated DCR 58 by declaring that only vacant mill-land was eligible. Since mills are scattered with diverse sheds, the city got a pointless 32-acre instead of the expected, transformative 166. Only mill-owners, developers and political facilitators laughed all the way to the bank. The former Girangaon of Lalbaug-Parel continues to weep over its multiple afflictions. The Waterfront project would have specifically uplifted the city's eastern flank – cruelly bypassed by the infrastructure lavished on the west. Planners seem to think that the stretch along D'Mello/ Dockyard Road is still just a depression of scabrous warehouses, when in fact there's an increasing density of housing colonies with correspondingly deeper problems of connectivity. To wit: · Eastern freeway mockingly whizzes past; to use it, 'easterners' must negotiate the snarl of Antop Hill or travel all the way to Reay Road. · Engineering marvel Atal Setu's entry point is more manageable, but who needs its distant destinations? · At-hand monorail doesn't serve the needs of adjacent populations either, but it has swallowed half the carriageway of arterial roads. · Ambitious Sewri-Worli Elevated Connector will be this congested area's first gateway to the Worli-Bandra Sealink and all the blandishments to its south and north. Its two arms are growing apace, but their union is barred by old Elphinstone bridge; its closure has been held up by residents of two abutting chawls demanding intractable in situ rehabilitation; even dismantling and reconstruction could stretch interminably going by the Kaftaesque experience of nearby Delisle road bridge. · Metro? Yes, the city's true public transport saviour will come – but on the wrong, undeveloped side of the Harbour Line track. Obsolescence is an essential of progress. Rust belts echo 'Ozymandias' -- P B Shelley's poem on the crumbling legacy of a once-proud king, and reimagined in the eponymous episode of Breaking Bad. But, the world over, new Phoenixes rise, and shine with a well-planned mix of leisure, retail and entertainment that serves both public good and private gain. Like Belfast's Titanic Quarter, the Waterfront project had unique potential for learning and leisure, with enough commerce to bankroll it. If we let it sink, it will take the city with it. Docks facilitated Bombay's glorious past. Current greed will blight not just its present, but its future too. Mindless over-construction isn't threatening only the distant Himalaya. (Bachi Karkaria is a city chronicler and best-selling author.)
Time of India
24-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Return of the Jeh: Bombay Dyeing's sequel is all real estate
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The shift itself isn't new Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The pivot to real estate has been a slow burn Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Jeh's second act The land advantage Why now? The competitive lens The Blueprint For more than 150 years, Bombay Dyeing stood as one of India's textile titans, a legacy name woven into the country's industrial story. That era is now in the rear-view. The company is reshaping itself entirely, casting off its textile past to go all in on real this transformation is Jehangir 'Jeh' Wadia, 52, the younger son of industrialist Nusli Wadia. After a four-year hiatus, he's back with a sharp mandate: turn Bombay Dyeing's massive land bank into a serious real estate business under the Bombay Realty brand.'I will be in a strategic role to bring a sharp, defined vision for governance, institutionalisation, and shareholder wealth creation,' Jeh Wadia said in a recent interview at Neville House , the company's Mumbai isn't a nostalgic comeback. It's a recalibration, timed just as India's real estate market is hitting historic highs. DLF and Godrej Properties are clocking record bookings. Luxury housing is booming. Bombay Dyeing doesn't want to be left different is the scale and Dyeing has long struggled to keep textiles FY25, consolidated income dipped to Rs 1,732 crore, down from Rs 1,799 crore the previous year. The majority of it — Rs 1,457 crore — came from polyester. Textiles contributed just Rs 47 estate brought in Rs 100 crore, but that was a 56% fall, coming on a high base inflated by one-off land deals worth nearly Rs 4,000 profit, as a result, crashed 83% to Rs 490 Wadias have been in the business since the early 1900s, originally building housing for Mumbai's Parsi community. But their real push into real estate came during the 2005–06 mill land boom, when they shifted from selling land to developing it trigger was Development Control Regulation 58 (DCR 58), a rule introduced in 1991 to allow the redevelopment of defunct mill land. It remained largely inactive for over a decade due to legal grey changed around 2005, when a Supreme Court ruling and updated state guidelines finally unlocked its potential, letting mill owners commercially develop part of their land while reserving portions for public housing and open set off a construction frenzy across central Mumbai's old mill districts like Lower Parel, Worli and Dyeing, with vast tracts in Worli, Dadar and Naigaon, was well-positioned. Unlike many mill owners who exited or partnered with developers, the Wadias kept set up a dedicated real estate arm in 2008, rebranded it as Bombay Realty in 2011, and launched the Island City Centre (ICC) project in Dadar East, featuring luxury towers like ONE ICC and TWO then managing director, was already steering the group toward real Wadia first became MD in 2011, stepping in after his brother Ness Wadia. Bombay Realty was launched the same year, signalling his intent early on. But progress was uneven. Much of the division's revenue came from sporadic land sales rather than integrated March 2021, Jeh stepped down as MD when his contract ended. That also marked his exit from Go First (formerly GoAir), part of a broader move to 'professionalise' the group. The pandemic, and what was reported as a move to London, also played a company operated without a managing director after that. Day-to-day operations were handled by CEO Suresh Khurana and CFO Hitesh Vora, with oversight from a board committee led by Nusli in July 2025, Jeh is back, not just at Bombay Dyeing but also in a non-executive role at Britannia. Officially, he says he doesn't need to 'wear the CEO or chairman hat.' But those close to the company suggest he's actively shaping the real estate strategy, working quietly but Dyeing's biggest asset is its land. It owns prime plots in areas like Worli and Dadar, some of the most valuable locations in Mumbai. On its website, the company says it is 'transforming and redefining the Mumbai skyline' through landmark projects like Island City Centre in Dadar and Wadia International Centre (WIC) in September 2024, the company sold a 22-acre Worli plot to Japan's Sumitomo Realty for Rs 5,200 crore, one of the biggest land deals in India's history, according to the Economic is in the ICC project alone, spread across 3.5 million sq. ft., is expected to generate Rs 15,000 crore through upscale residences, offices and Anand, CEO of Bombay Realty, told The Economic Times in 2023 that the company has multiple parcels with a combined development potential of 3.5 million sq. isn't unfamiliar sees the upcoming residential and commercial launches at ICC as a natural extension. 'The live-work ecosystem will offer clear land titles, allowing customers to live and work in the same development,' he the market is real estate sector, worth $320 billion, is projected to hit $1 trillion by 2030. It's being driven not just by housing and office demand but also by REITs, senior housing, and rental G. Patel, President of CREDAI, calls it a defining moment. 'India recently overtook Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy. This milestone signals not just macroeconomic strength but also immense opportunities for sectors like real estate,' he told Moneycontrol on June estate contributed just 1.8–2% of India's GDP in 2012. That figure stands at 8.4% now, with expectations to cross 10% by 2030. CREDAI sees it hitting 13–15% by the end of the decade, tied closely to India's $30 trillion economic vision for housing, in particular, is booming. According to a report by India Sotheby's and CRE Matrix, homes priced above Rs 10 crore generated Rs 14,750 crore in just the first half of 2025, a record six-month July 2024 and June 2025, 1,335 such homes were sold in Mumbai, netting Rs 28,750 crore. Nearly 75% came from the primary market. Secondary (resale) sales added Rs 3,750 crore, both five-year led with 22% of primary sales by value, followed by Bandra West and Tardeo, which posted 192% and 254% jumps, respectively. Notable transactions included Leena Gandhi Tiwari's Rs 639 crore buy at Naman Xana and other Rs 100–200 crore deals at Oberoi 360 West, Lodha Sea Face, and Bandra UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2024 says India now has 185 billionaires, more than double from a decade ago, with combined wealth of $905.6 billion, up 263%.JLL says 62% of homes sold in India's top cities in H1 2025 were priced above Rs 1 crore. CBRE and ASSOCHAM reported an 85% spike in sales of homes over Rs 4 leasing is thriving too. According to Knight Frank, India saw 48.9 million sq. ft. of leasing activity in H1 2025, up 41% year-on-year. Bengaluru and Chennai led the also ranks fourth globally in millionaire count, with 85,698 HNWIs, a 72% rise since 2014. McKinsey projects a further 50% jump in ultra-HNWI numbers by 2028. Luxury housing is now part of a much bigger consumption boom, fuelled by rising wealth and Properties had a record Q4 FY25 on paper, with Rs 10,163 crore in bookings. But profits told a more complex story. Despite a 49% jump in revenue to Rs 2,122 crore, net profit fell 19% to Rs 382 crore, hit by rising costs. Margins dropped from 24.1% to 14.4%.Still, the full-year view was upbeat. Net profit nearly doubled to Rs 1,400 crore on annual bookings of Rs 29,444 crore, well ahead of had an even stronger run. FY25 net profit jumped 59% to ?4,357 crore. Bookings were up 44% to Rs 21,223 crore, beating its Rs 17,000 crore target. Revenue hit Rs 8,996 crore. Gross margins held at 48%, with EBITDA at Rs 3,111 crore. It ended the year with a record Rs 6,848 crore net cash launches, 'The Dahlias' and 'DLF Privana West', alone brought in Rs 13,744 crore and Rs 5,600 this points to one thing: India's luxury real estate boom is still Wadia isn't here to flip land for a quick profit. He's aiming for something more enduring, consolidation, clarity, and long-term value. His plan: unify the group's scattered real estate ventures under one banner, Bombay Realty.'We have a legacy experience in different areas of real estate, though it was unorganised,' he said. 'The focus now is to institutionalise it under one unified brand. The Bombay Dyeing name must remain relevant for the next generation.''The live-work ecosystem will offer clear land titles, allowing customers to live and work in the same development,' he of their past work already defines parts of Mumbai: Parsi housing enclaves like Nowroz Baug and Cusrow Baug, the NSE building, Axis Bank HQ in Jeh knows legacy alone won't cut it anymore. 'There's a trust deficit between builders and buyers,' he said. 'Our brand stands for integrity, values earned over generations.'Since stepping away during the pandemic, Jeh returns with a more detached mindset. 'My job is to take the personality out of the process. There's no place for emotion in business.'At the heart of his approach is a three-part filter: every project must fall into one of three buckets, strategic, financial, or exit. If it doesn't serve shareholder value, it doesn't make the 288-year-old Wadia Group includes four listed companies, Britannia, Bombay Dyeing, National Peroxide and Bombay Burmah, with a combined market cap of Rs 1.38 lakh immediate focus is to unlock value from land held across the group and within the family, before partnering with external landowners through joint while Go First's collapse still lingers, he calls it a 'costly miscalculation' that reshaped his thinking. It drove home the three principles he now swears by: data, transparency and unemotional decision-making.
