Bandra-Kurla plots sold for a record Rs 2,791 cr

MUMBAI: It’s no longer a game for the faint-hearted. Mumbai has just concluded its largest land deal ever. On Monday, three different deals in the Bandra-Kurla Complex were sealed for a whopping Rs 2,791 crore. The amount is almost 180% higher than the reserve price set by MMRDA, which auctioned the plots.

And the show will continue on Tuesday as well when another prime property in Mumbai suburbs will be up for grabs for an expected Rs 700 crore, when the Bombay High Court opens the bids for around 178 acres of land belonging to PAL-Peugeot in the Kalyan-Dombivili area. The land has been mired in litigation for about nine years.

Monday belonged to Reliance Industries, Wadhwa Builders and Purnendu Chatterjee’s real estate arm TCG (along with the Hiranandani group), which bid successfully for the 75,350 sq mt BKC land. For the PAL-Peugeot plot, around 35 bidders, including leading developers such as DLF, Unitech, Omax, Indiabulls, Akruti Nirman and the Hiranandani group, are in the race.

Wadhwa Builders and the TCG-Hiranandani combine won the two plots earmarked for commercial and office use, while RIL won the bid for the third plot, which is reserved for a multi-storeyed car parking and commercial complex. Due to the increasing demand for parking space, MMRDA had proposed to allocate one plot to develop a commercial complex and a multi-storeyed parking facility for a minimum of 550 cars.

According to Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), the deal prize is justifiable in the current scenario. “The MMRDA land deal has created history in Indian real estate. In the current scenario, when the economy is clocking an 8-9% growth and the demand-supply gap favouring the demand side, the business maths works out. It may be sustained for another 18-24 months till the time the two assumptions hold good. But after that, when supply starts coming in, sustainability will be difficult,” he told ET.

The highest bidder, Wadhwa Builders valued the 16,500 sq mt land at Rs 831 crore, or Rs 5.03 lakh per sq mt. TCG quoted Rs 3.67 lakh per sq mt for the 28,300 sq mt plot, valuing it at Rs 1,041 crore. Both these plots are meant for commercial use.