EDITORIAL

STREET SMART
The market’s incessant rise has encouraged companies to raise funds from the public

A CHECK ON PAY
Who got the biggest raises? Which company was most generous?

SHAKERS BUT NOT MARKET MOVERS
The ones who did not have to tap the market to get the numbers

BILLIONAIRE CLUB
A definitive list of India Inc’s richest

HIGHEST PAY PACKETS
List of the best paymasters

METHODOLOGY AND INDEX
How we estimated wealth and earnings of billionaires

BILLIONAIRE CLUB 2006
BILLIONAIRE CLUB 2005

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Yachts might be the newest indulgence but luxury cars, have for a while, represented the favourite boast. The year-and-a-half old Rolls-Royce dealership in Mumbai has sold 16 Phantoms till date at an average Rs 4 crore; they are hopeful of selling another 12 bespoke beauties by the year end. Comparable price tags and associated levels of snoot puts Bentley (Lalit Khaitan, CMD Radico Khaitan drives one) and Maybach in the same family, although the Maybach, now, is finding few suitors. Anil Ambani, true to his extroverted personality, prefers flashier transport. He owns a Lamborghini Gallardo as well a Maserati Quattroporte.

While the top rung of India Inc are predictable shoppers, the soaring value of land has resulted in a rash of new billionaires - the real estate owners and construction barons. Sunny Dewan, of Dewan Housing, is known for his penchant for cars, and has, stashed away a Ferrari F430 Modena and a Hummer H2. Avinash Bhosale, proprietor of the AB group, and Pune’s king of good times, has an array of Lexus and BMWs, a Mercedes SLK and a Bell 206 L4 helicopter!

The young billionaires seem to prefer sporty thoroughbreds like Lamborghini (Sameer Thapar of JCT Mills has a Gallardo Spyder), Ferrari and Maserati over predictable buys like a Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series (Pia Singh of DLF Universal drives a BMW 760Li) or Audi S8. There are an estimated 50 Porsche 911s on Indian roads; Yohan Poonawalla drives a Porsche Cayenne.

If you’re driving a flashy car, your address better fit the part too. Like Lodha builders advertises “Why park your own Porsche if you can let the valet do it for you.” For the Lodha group, marketing their luxury homes at 30-40 per cent premiums over market values is getting easier. “Demand far exceeds supply,” says Abhishek Lodha. Their apartments range from Rs 5 crore for 2,400 sq. ft. to Rs 30 crore for 7,000 sq. ft. Chateau Paradis on Worli Seaface has only six five-bedroom flats, each with a sun deck, private garden, jacuzzi and a putting green. “The buyers are promoters of industry. For them the sky’s the limit,” says Lodha.

Inviting plenty of media intrigue and citizen concern is Antilia, the Reliance Industries’ chairman’s new house currently under construction in Mumbai’s Altamount Road. Mukesh Ambani will soon be the resident in a 27-floor (with the height of a 60-storied house) home, with space for 150 cars, a mini theatre, an in-house car servicing centre, vertical garden and helipads. Just five minutes away from the new Ambani residence on Carmichael road will be Kumarmangalam Birla's five-storied sprawl. Equipped with underground parking, the villa will house a 20-seater cinema and a rooftop swimming pool for entertainment.

In New Delhi, it isn’t the height or the size of the real estate as much as the neighbourhood that counts for your status. Lutyens’ Delhi, where the Prime Minister is your neighbour, is a powerhouse. At Rs 100 crore-plus a pop, it’s about the most expensive a little bungalow can get. Even if, like Lakshmi Mittal, you get to do it up Moroccan style.

Business Standard • December 2007