DDA & the market's revenge

A DDA flat was a privilege in a city where almost nobody could build anything. Its inventory of unsold flats exceeds 40,000 at Rs 18,000 crore. It's still building more

Applying the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) test is an instructive way of understanding the evolution of India’s political economy — what has changed, and what hasn’t. For the better or for the worse.

The almighty DDA has had a monopoly over land and its development — even commercialisation — in Delhi for most of the period since it was founded in 1957. In the course of a very short time, it grew to be a Soviet-style development agency for Delhi.

Why I have sometimes called it the Delhi Destruction Authority, I will explain in a bit. For now, let me just say