Meet Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the man behind Macrotech Developers aka Lodha Group who’s worth Rs. 44,270 crores and was recently ranked as the richest real estate developer in India by the Hurun India. His real estate venture is responsible for one of the most prominent properties in Maharashtra such as the Lodha Altamount, the sky kissing World One skyscraper, Lodha Bellissimo and the Trump Towers. Today we will be telling you the man behind the projects, Mr. Mangal Prabhat Lodha.
Humble Beginning
Born on 1st December 1955, Mangal is the son of Guman Mal Lodha, who was a former member of Lok Sabha and a Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court. The to-be real estate mogul’s childhood was spent in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
After completing his B.Com and LLB, he started practicing law at the Jodhpur High Court. In a testament of his pursuit for a fair behavior, he decided to leave his hometown and Jodhpur High Court as he was fed up with rumours saying he was getting an unfair advantage in the court due to his father who was the judge in the same court.
Coming to city of dreams, Mumbai
In a decision that would change his life, and the lives of many others associated with him, Mangal moved to the city that never sleeps, Mumbai, in 1981. After observing the humdrums of the city while looking for opportunities, he found himself getting more and more interested in the Mumbai’s Real Estate Market.
Back then the real estate developers of Maharashtra were focusing more on Mumbai and less on neighbouring suburbs such as Thane Kalyan and others. Mangal saw how these suburbs had great connectivity to other regions and were very cheap. He saw the opportunity and invested whatever money he had and acquired some land in these areas.
This was the beginning of the Lodha Group as it with the construction of its first building at Kalyan. The group sold those flats at good profit margins compared to market rates. One thing that separated Mangal from most real-estate sellers was the fact that Lodha sold lifestyle while others sold homes.
Lodha Group sells lifestyle not houses
He was among the first few developers in Mumbai that started selling a lifestyle in which he sold properties that consisted of amenities like clubhouses, swimming pools, gardens, etc.
Another way Lodha separated himself from most real estate developers was that his group booked homes on invites, making him an exclusive developer. He played a significant role in giving Mumbai’s suburban regions enhanced quality of living and must be credited for being responsible in enhancing the quality of live.
With every passing year, Lodha’s projects kept on increasing in size and numbers. During the early 2000s, Mumbai’s real estate sector was booming. Thane and other suburbs were witnessing an increase in demand for houses with price for properties also rising. Lodha again seized the opportunity and invested in a number of projects in the area.
In 2003, Mangal’s sons, Abhishek and Abhinandan also joined his business. One of the significant moments in Lodha Group came in 2009 when it got a funding of Rs. 1,700 from the Deutsche Bank. This surprised many real-estate pundits who claimed that the market cap of Lodha Group was just Rs. 266 crores.
By then, the group had already expanded its real-estate business to other cities like Pune and Kolkata and even went international by having business at London, UK.
Another significant landmark came in the form of Lodha Group bagging a deal of Rs. 4050 crores from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority in 2010. It was the biggest ever land deal in the history of India.
Lodha Group starts its most ambitious project to date: Palava City
In 2011, the group started with its flagship project at Palava city. The Palava city project was aimed as a project to build the biggest ever private township in the world. The project covers an area of whopping 4500 acres. The project will be hosting a number of schools, colleges, business parks, industrial parks and over 1,00,000 residents under its private space. For now, the project is in its first phase of the developent with 15% of it already over.
To give our readers some context as to just how huge the project is, they should note that the Palava township will have 3 Mumbai metropolitan stations in it.
Building Trump Towers, Lodha Altamount
Taking our eyes to other projects, in September 2013, the group also died up with former US President and real-estate mogul Donald Trump for the construction of the 77-floor luxury residential tower in Mumbai’s Lower Parel area, now commonly known as the Trump Towers.
In 2017, the Lodha group launched another flagship project called Lodha Altamount, a luxury residential skyscraper situated on Altamount Road in Mumbai. The group acquired the property for this project from the US consulate for Rs 375 crore. To the ones who may not know, Altamount road is also the road by which billionaire Mukesh Ambani has his 27-floor-skyskrapper Antilia. Kumar Mangalam Birla, Radhakrishna Damani and other billionaires also reside in this region, making it one of the most expensive places to reside at in India.
The successful IPO-Launch
Recently, on April 19, Mangal Lodha finally launched the IPO for the Lodha Group. The Rs. 2,500-crore IPO was subscribed 26% on day one. On its final day of bidding, the IPO was subscribed 103%.
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