India’s realty juggernaut

Kushal Pal Singh, Chairman, DLF Group, knows how to raise comfort levels. After all, he managed to convince thousands of farmers to part with their land, to make way for one of Asia’s biggest townships. So when DLF’s IPO was stalled for almost a year due to a dispute with minority shareholders, there was confidence that he’d see it through. And what a debut it was. His company notched up the single-largest, single-day gain in market capitalisation in the history of Indian stock markets. In the process, India’s #1 real estate tycoon became the country’s third rupee trillionaire. On one particular day, K.P., as close friend Jack Welch calls him, made a cool Rs 18,000 crore on the bourses. Singh, 76, might have been ‘embarrassed’ by the media spotlight that followed, but we’re sure he isn’t complaining. It’s been a long road for the urban planning pioneer. HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh recalls Gurgaon 25 years ago and muses on what the presumptuous K.P. saw in such desolation. Today, DLF has over 224 million sq. ft of completed development, and saleable area of over 738 million sq. ft.