January 19, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 18, 1426

MUMBAI: For an indication of how Mumbai’s property prices have reached stratospheric heights over the past one year, consider this: In 2004, when bids were invited for an 18.5-acre plot reserved for a convention-cum-exhibition centre in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), the highest offer was Rs750 million, made by a pandal decorator. The bid was promptly rejected because not only was it too low, the company wanted to defer payment.

On Tuesday, the same piece of land fetched a staggering Rs11.04. billion from Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) when bids were opened at 4 pm on the sixth floor of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) headquarters at BKC.

This is by far the biggest land deal in Mumbai, beating last year’s record of Rs7.02 billion paid by DLFAkruti for the 17-acre Mumbai Textile Mill property in Lower Parel.

It was a battle of the giants. Younger brother Anil’s Reliance Communications Infrastructure Limited too made an aggressive bid for this plot, but lost out as its offer of Rs10.11 billion was Rs 930 million less than Mukesh’s. At the time of the split between the two brothers last year, there were unconfirmed reports that they had agreed not to compete for specified number of years: it would appear that there were areas of exceptions to the agreement, if indeed such an agreement was signed.

The remaining three bidders for the BKC land were Delhi’s DLFAkruti (Rs10.50 billion), Gammon India Ltd. (Rs10.11 billion) and Dubai-based Emar Properties (Rs 9.11 billion). None of the big names of Mumbai’s real estate industry were in the race.—By arrangement with The Times of India