During the summer of 1980, I spent a great deal of time thinking about ways to revive DLF’s real estate business, weighing various options, trying to create new opportunities. Uppermost in my mind was the need to launch a new land development project. I was not interested in small-scale, run-of-the-mill, bread-and-butter schemes. I was fired with the ambition of doing something on a scale that would give the DLF brand the image boost it needed to make an emphatic comeback.
I would have preferred to start land development activities in Delhi but that was ruled out, thanks to the rigid provisions of the Urban Land Ceiling Act. I had to look elsewhere. I had my eyes on a desolate stretch of land in Gurgaon district. The location seemed good, just a few miles across the border from Delhi, not too far from the airport and right on the main highway to the city of Jaipur. The land itself was a vast expanse of numerous small agricultural holdings, with large stretches of sparse vegetation and tiny villages dotting the otherwise inhospitable and uninhabited countryside.
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I could sense the opportunities. But I had to make sure the land was available for purchase, I had to consider the commercial viability of the venture and I also had to find out more about local land laws and regulations. I made frequent visits to the site to familiarize myself with the lay of the land, striking up conversations with the few local inhabitants who approached me out of curiosity braving the heat of the day.
As far as I knew, Haryana was one of the few states in the country that had not enacted the draconian ULCA. This would later help the state grow faster than many others, but at that time nobody was interested in a place like Gurgaon, a featureless little town in the middle of nowhere. Paradoxically, that was precisely the reason I was keen on buying the land in the area and taking up the challenge of developing it into a township that would become the centre of activity.
One site in particular had caught my eye. It was an area of around 40 acres situated some 50 metres away from the Gurgaon-Faridabad highway near Chakkarpur and Sikanderpur Ghosi villages. It was mostly wilderness with a terrain criss-crossed by small gulches where one could still find wild blue bulls roaming. To reach that spot, I had to pass the majestic Qutab Minar along the way. I would glance at the towering monument, wondering if it would bring me inspiration. It did, and of the most unexpected kind.
On one of these visits, on a particularly scorching day, I had parked my car near a village well and sat down to evaluate the potential. It was difficult to imagine anyone ever wanting to invest in a house or flats in the midst of a wilderness so far away from the heart of Delhi. In the 1980s, driving from Delhi to Gurgaon was nothing like it is today. It was quite an ordeal, without roads, without human habitation for miles around. Yet, I was beginning to see the logic of starting a DLF project there. The way I saw it, once the city of Delhi started to expand to accomodate the growth in population, the Gurgaon area would provide the space for the spread of urbanization. To help myself think more clearly, I sought a small shaded area under some trees. It also offered an opportunity to chat with the villagers visiting the well where a camel was being used to draw up the water. I was sitting on a charpoy, the ubiquitous string cot used by the rural folk in the area, when an incident occurred that changed the course of my endeavours. In fact, it was this one incident that was to transform Gurgaon from a rural wilderness into an international city.
I was chatting with a villager when a speeding jeep screeched to a halt nearby. The driver of the vehicle emerged and asked if he could get a can of water as his engine was overheating. It was around noon and the midday sun was unbearable. I went across to ask the person to join me in the shade while the water was being fetched to cool the engine. It was only when I came close that I realized it was none other that Rajiv Gandhi.
Rajiv used to love driving out of Delhi and often used to visit his farmhouse on the outskirts of Mehrauli. He also liked to use the route across Gadaipur to a village called Mandi on the road towards Gurgaon. He was on one such trip when his vehicle had started to give problems. Rajiv had just quit his career as a pilot with Indian Airlines. He was taking his first hesitant steps into politics and was trying to get a broader picture of the country and its problems. He had collected some friends like Arun Singh, his cousin Arun Nehru and other bright young people to act like a think tank to brainstorm on various issues and offer suggestions to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
His entry into politics had been sudden and tragic, following the death of his younger brother, Sanjay Gandhi, in a plane crash. Rajiv had become a huge emotional support for his grief-stricken mother as she has been very dependent on Sanjay, her anointed political heir.
‘What are you doing in such a desolate plate and that too at the height of summer?’ Rajiv asked me after I had introduced myself.
‘I am in the real estate business and am inspired by the idea of creating a modern city on the outskirts of Delhi,’ I replied.
He became interested and pressed me on the issue.
‘What is holding it up and why don’t you do it?’ he asked.
I decided to be frank and upfront and told him all about the existing land laws and how the odds were stacked up against private developers. I informed him that DLF had started acquiring land but there was little it could do unless regulations were amended to provide private developers a level playing field. I confessed that I was desperate and had my back against the wall trying to do something that seemed like an impossible dream. At that time, DLF had no money or business worth talking about. Banks were forbidden to give loans to purchase land. There was no such thing as housing loans. The only capital that DLF had was my optimism and determination to revive the company and make it a real estate giant. Rajiv sensed that.
Intrigued, he asked me for details on land legislation, statutes and town planning regulations which, I had told him, impeded urban growth and development and were out of sync with the needs and rising aspirations of modern India. As he grasped the overall picture, I could see his interest growing. We sat there for an hour and half, in the middle of nowhere, engaged in detailed discussions about the idea of creating an integrated, world-class township in Gurgaon.
That I realized that this young politician could be an agent of change. He had an inquisitive mind, and an ability to grasp a complex subject very quickly and get to the core of the issue. He also came across as sincere and agreed that there was a need for fresh thinking on the subject. He expressed a desire to understand the issue in greater detail and suggested I meet him and Arun Singh at his New Delhi office on Motilal Nehru Marg where I could make a presentation, after which we could discuss what could be done.
I was elated at this chance encounter and the opportunity it offered me personally. I was just entering my fifties and while real estate was a high-risk business for private operators, age and existing laws were no barrier to dreaming big. I had experienced technical setbacks in my earlier business ventures but I was determined to make it as an entrepreneur. Since DLF was a family company in my control, with an established market reputation, I was convinced that my future lay in expansion into Gurgaon. In my dreams, night or day, I was already picturing a city with well-planned residential colonies and commercial and shopping areas. If one has to dream, dream big, I would constantly tell myself. My father-in-law had built colonies in an existing city; I would complement his efforts by building a city! A chance meeting with the future prime minister of India now offered me the opportunity to make that dream come true. I prepared myself carefully for the crucial meeting.
It had been a challenging and intense time in my life. The ULCA had been introduced, Willard India had to be kept afloat despite technological hitches and losses, there was no money, financial institutions were adding to the pressure and the burden of DLF was also weighing on me. Since I had taken an irreversible decision of reviving DLF, it became more than clear to me that the time had come to disengage myself from the manufacturing activities of Willard India and American Universal and instead concentrate on real estate.
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On most mornings, I would go across to my father-in-law’s house adjoining mine on Aurangzeb Road in the heart of New Delhi for a morning cup of tea and a chat about DLF. Chaudhry Saheb, as everyone called him, kept saying that though DLF had lost heavily due to the ULCA, the private sector’s role in the real estate business could not be ignored and it would be back with a bang. Such words of wisdom instilled a sense of added confidence and optimism in me. I also remembered George Hoddy’s advice to me many years ago about lobbying to change laws rather than having to circumvent or break them. Now, with the meeting with Rajiv scheduled, I had a chance to do exactly that.
I arrived at Rajiv’s office with a detailed presentation on how the urban landscape could be transformed if archaic laws were changed and the private sector made a partner in township development. I also tried to portray what it would mean for India in the long run. I started by outlining that the requirement of urban housing was falling way short of demand. I also explained how the private sector could play an important role in developing houses for the vulnerable sections in a planned manner. I then detailed the complexities of getting government approvals for any private housing project. Rajiv and Arun Singh listened attentively, interjecting with their own questions, and I sensed that this was a god-sent opportunity.
The biggest hurdle to private sector involvement in urban development were politicians, bureaucrats and policy makers who would have to be convinced about why it should be allowed. It required intense lobbying to drive home the logic and get the laws and regulatory norms changed. I knew I was the only one who could bring this about as the real estate sector at that time did not have anyone else who could or would put things in the right perspective. On the political front, Rajiv and Arun Singh had the clout and the approach to bring about that change as well.
At the end of the meeting, they advised me to meet Bhajan Lal, the chief minister of Haryana, and lay out my plans for Gurgaon before him. Accordingly, I drove down to Chandigarh to meet Bhajan Lal. He had called in Khurshid Ahmed, the minister for finance and town planning in his government, to attend the meeting. Bhajan Lal was an astute politician and since I was meeting him on Rajiv’s suggestion, he was eager to hear what I had come to see him about. I outlined my plan to develop a colony in Gurgaon.
WHATEVER THE ODDS:
The Incredible Story Behind DLF
Author: Kushal Pal Singh, Raman Swamy, Ramesh Menon
Publisher: HarperCollins
Price: Rs 699
