Sunday, August 17, 2014

This realty tycoon dreams of a Hyde Park in Mumbai


This realty tycoon dreams of a Hyde Park in Mumbai 

Oberoi holds forth on a variety of subjects - like Mumbai's outdated laws, the so-called North and South Mumbai divide and his marriage with actress Gayatri Joshi.

Oberoi holds forth on a variety of subjects - like Mumbai's outdated laws, the so-called North and South Mumbai divide and his marriage with actress Gayatri Joshi. 

Vikas Oberoi may say his life does not change being on or off the Big Boys Billionaire list, but ask us. It took over eight weeks of chasing the realtor while he was busy poring over the details of mega projects and deals, some of them in the Rs 1,000 crore vicinity.

Oberoi does apologise profusely for being elusive, saying a definite sign of how busy he has been is the fact that he, a fitness freak, had not hit the gym for two weeks, not even for a 20-minute run. 

Eventually, the pursuit ends, and Oberoi holds forth on a variety of subjects - like Mumbai's outdated laws, the so-called North and South Mumbai divide and his marriage with actress Gayatri Joshi. Excerpts from an interview:

You have built famous properties in North Mumbai, not considered a fashionable part of the city. As a part of the social elite, how do you view the South-North divide in the city? 

This divide between North Mumbai and South Mumbai is a big myth or at best, overrated. Many of us have economic and social interests in both parts of Mumbai. According to me, North Mumbai is as fashionable.

The city centre is in fact shifting from Nariman Point to Bandra and you can see that real estate prices of both commercial and residential spaces in North Mumbai are at par, in some cases, if not higher, than South Mumbai. 

Swades, the film in which your wife Gayatri played the female lead, is about a successful NRI giving back after being gobsmacked by the realities of his home country. Are there things about Mumbai that hit you, which make you, want to give back? 

Mumbai is the melting pot of India. It has so much potential, so much energy... all we need is a focused CEO for Mumbai and we will see dramatic change. We are bogged down by archaic laws. I am not saying that there should be no rules, (but) we need rules that can fulfil the dreams and aspirations of people.

At one end we speak about CRZ regulations and on the other, we dump untreated sewage and industrial waste into the sea. My dream for Mumbai is to see it get the best form of public education, housing, health, and transport, a park like Hyde Park of London or Central Park, New York. 

We have the space and can do it. We just need well meaning visionaries to do it. I have real estate experience and would be very keen to contribute. If the government were to ask me to do something in the housing and infrastructure domain, like what Nandan Nilekani was asked to do, I will do it in a heartbeat.

How did you and Gayatri meet? 

I had known Gayatri for a long time before we got married. We were just friends, more like acquaintances. Luckily, we kept bumping into each other and I strongly felt she was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

Inventory is a constant in the realty business, especially in the niche sphere of luxury. Is this an increasing worry with slow sales? 

According to me, any project that has not started cannot be taken as inventory. It takes a lot of time, regulatory approvals, finance and effort to build a project. Also, none of the developers have any ready-to-occupy flats as inventory. I am not at all worried.

After Mumbai, you moved to the NCR region. Will those also be luxury projects? 

We primarily want to do projects only in Mumbai. But we are open to JVs (Joint Ventures) in other parts of India. Our focus is Mumbai and NCR for now. We may look at Bangalore also. There is a quality benchmark which we want to do. Even if I do low cost housing, the quality of life must not get compromised. Take our Borivali project, which is midmarket high-rise. The ticket size may be small but will be the best in its class.
What does money mean to you? What does being on and off the billionaire list mean to you? 

Money is like fuel. It depends on how you use it. Money can be used as energy and be productive or it can go up in smoke and be a disaster. As for the List, it does not change anything, neither me as a person nor my attitude to society. It just brings the spotlight unnecessarily on you. Which is unwanted. 

As someone building a prestigious hotel in the city (Ritz Carlton), what makes a great luxury hotel? Which are some of your favourite hotels in the world? 

Hotels that look after its customers well are great. Among my favourites where I have stayed are Hotel Du Cap in Antibes, Ritz Carlton Hong Kong, the George V in Paris, Villa D'este Lake Como and Udai Vilas in Udaipur. 

Fitness is a way of life with you. What are the food and fitness rules you follow? 

As kids we were athletic and played a lot sport. I used to regularly run, play squash and go cycling. But once I got into work this took a backseat. Luckily, a very dear friend of mine, who himself is super fit, got me to regularly work out. Then on it's a way of life. (I do) A short run, and functional training with TRX, Rib trainer, Viper workout five days a week. Eat light, sleep well. The trick to remaining fit is 50 per cent workout and rest and 50 per cent is to watch what you eat. 

Sourrce : Nandini Raghavendra, ET Bureau 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Labels

85th Academy Awards in Hollywood Aam Aadmi Party Aanjaneya Lifecare Aastha channel ABG Shipyard Abhinav Jhunjhunwala-Prerna Sarda Acharya Balkrishna Adani Group Aditi Kothari Aditya Swamy Adlabs Films Limited AirAsia Ajay Piramal Alan Greespan ALBERTA LA GRUP Alfred Cointreau Alibag Alisher Usmanov - Russian billionaire Alkesh Tandon-Raakhe Kapoor Allie Nawrat Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company Limited Amar Chitra Katha Amartya Sen's daughter Nandana Amish Tripathi Amit Bhatia-Vanisha Mittal Amit Burman Amit Wilson Amitabh Bachchan AMP Technologies an online real estate portal Anand Kripalu Anand Mahindra Anant Media Pvt Ltd Anil Jindal Anjali Bansal Anne Hathaway annual report of Prime Securities Anu Aga Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. Apple Aravind Eye Care System Architect Hafeez Contractor Architecture Arindam Chaudhuri Arokiaswamy Velumani Arvind Kejriwal Arvind Mills Ashni Biyani Ashok Gajera ; Russell Mehta Ashok Piramal Group Ashok Soota Asia 7 AstraZeneca Pharma Atlantic Media ATT author and CEO Autoline Industries Aviation Ayesha Thapar Azim Premji Baba Kalyani Group Baba Ramdev Bain Capital Bangalore and Hyderabad Bank Loan interest rates BankBazaar BANKING TERMS Being Human Bekkit Benjamin Graham Bennett Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd Berkshire Hathway Best Data Recovery Companies in India Best denim brands BF Utilities Bharat Parekh and Ravi Jethani - LIC Agents BharatStudent.com Bharti Infratel Bhulabhai Desai Road off Breach Candy Bhupendra Panwar Big Cinemas Big Gulp and Bakers Street Bilcare Bill Gates’ Corbis photographic collection Bill Miller Binod Chaudhary Birla Pacific Medspa Birmingham-based 2 Sisters Food Group (2SFG) Biz Daughters Black Money Black Swan Theory Block Deals Blue Dart Express Blue star Bluegape BMC BOC India Bombay Blue in Kurla Bombay Dyeing Books BPCL Brady Brand Capital Brands Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital Brickwork Ratings India Private Limited Brickwork Ratings India Pvt Ltd BRICS BS BSE Buddh Circuit Budget 2013: Do we really need a Women’s bank Burger King Burmans Burn (from Coca-Cola) Business Insider Business of Marriages Business Standard Business World Buzzanytime Cadbury House Cadbury India Canaan Partners CanvasM Capillary Technologies Captain C P Krishnan Nair CARE - Credit Rating Agencies of India CARE and PC Jewellers Career Point Carmichael Road Cash Overseas (Paywall) Casino Resort Castrol Catamaran Investment Private Ltd. Catholic Syrian Bank CDMA Mobile Technology Central Parking Services Chairman of Sajjan India Ltd Charged Voids Chart Moving Average In Excel Chennai CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Chick-a-fil Chicken came First Chitrangada Singh Cinemax Cinnamon Teal Citigroup Coal India Coca-Cola Coffee Coffee Day Coffee Day Group Coffee Day Resorts and Global Cognizant Cointreau Coleman and Co Ltd Colvyn Harris Comic books Commodity stocks Companies Company name change Compucom Computer-Generated Women Concierge Construction Cost Copper Chimney Coppock Curve Indicator Analysis Core Education and Technologies Core Projects and Technologies Corporate Centre Cost of a farmhouse Party Costa Coffee Could9 Credit Analysis and Research Ltd. (CARE) CRISIL CRISIL Limited Crorepati Crowdsourcing Currency D-Mart D. Subbarao Dabur Dalai Lama Dalal Street top investors Dalit Entrepreneur Dan Roarty Darshan Patel David Moratilla Daytona 675 and Speed Triple bikes DB Realty DCNS Deccan Gold Mines Deepak Fertilisers Deepinder Goyal Defence Defence-related stocks or military stocks Delhi Assembly Elections 2013 Delhi gang rape case Delhi NCR Delhi Stock Exchange Dell's EqualLogic Della Adventure Delta Corp Demark Technical Indicator Design Atelier Developer Khemchand Kothari Devi Shetty Dharmesh Jain Dharmesh Shah Dhiraj Rajaram DI Corporation Dia Group's sister concern - Lifestyle Tradelinks India DigitalGlobe Disa India Dividend Stocks DLF DLF Emporio DLF Galleria Dollar Domino's Double Top technical analysis DSE Durex DVR Share Easun Reyrolle Education Startups Educomp Solutons Ltd. Edward Snowden Edwin Lefevre Eicher Motors Eko Elections EMA – Exponential Moving Average Entrepreneurs ET ET 500 ET BUREAU ETIG Database Evalueserve Everonn Edu Everstone Capital Expensive houses in the world Expensive Stocks Faering Capital Falguni Nayar FAME Farmax India Ltd. FDI Fed’s interest rate Fidelity Investments FII holding in BSE 500 Finacle Financial crises Financial Technologies Fineotex Chemical Finnish real estate company Exilion first analytical pharmacy first McDonalds restaurant in Kerala in Lulu Mall Fitch Ratings India Private Ltd. Flappy Bird Flipkart Founder - HCL Technologies France' Groupe SEB Fresenius Kabi Oncology Frugal innovation FTIL Fund Manager Desktop Software Future Group Games Ganga Gatorade Gautam Singhania Gayatri Joshi GBP GE Shipping GEICO Genesys International Geodesic Ltd. GeoGlobal’s Jean Paul Roy Geometric George Soros Girish Patel Gita Gopinath Gitanjali Gems and Tara Jewels Gitanjali Gems Ltd Gitanjali investments Glaxo Smith Consumer Healthcare GMR Infrastructure Ltd Godrej Agrovet Godrej Industries Godrej Industries' agriculture business unit Agrovet Goenka brothers goindia.about.com Gold Gold Loan Companies Goldman Sachs Google GRAND CONCIERGE Graphic Designer Great investors Green Earth Resources and Projects Ltd.(formerly Austral Coke) Greycells Entertainment GSPC GTL Infra Gujarat Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Gurgaon Gursimran Mann GV Films Haagen-Dazs Halle Berry Happiest Minds Technologies Haridwar Harvard Haryana Hawkins HBJ Capital HCL Infosystems HDFC Bank CEO Aditya Puri's daughter Healthcare Hector Beverages Hedge fund billionaire Daniel S. Loeb High Dividend Yield Stocks High Profile Weddings HIGHLIFE ASIA HINDALCO Hiranandani Gardens Hiranandani Group Hiren Patel Architects Hitachi Hockey India League's Delhi Waveriders team Hollywood Honeywell Automation India Hotmail how to identify multibagger stock ideas How To Install Odin Share Trading Software HPCL http://thecoalition.in http://www.rentmeafarm.com HUL Hyde Park in Mumbai Hyderabad I-T department IAS ICICI Bank ICRA ICRA Limited IIPM IIT India India Infoline India Today India’s first river-linking project Indiamart.com Indian Businessman Indian Farmhouses Indian School of Business Indian Startups IndianOil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) Indigo Indrajal Infosys Innox Inorbit Malls Intelligence Bureau (IB) Intense Technologies International property consultants Internet IPO Intraday Charting Software India IOC IOL Netcom IPL IPO Iran Iranian oil Ireland Iron Mountain- safe-keeper of the wills of Princess Diana and Charles Darwin ISI Kolkata Israel Italian luxury firm Bulgari ITC Jasuben Pizza Jaypee JAYPEE GROUP Jennifer Lawrence Jesse Livermore Jessica Law Jewellery Jhon Templeton Jignesh Shah Jim Rogers JK Paper JM Financial John Abraham John Rockefeller John Rothchild Jones Lang LaSalle Jones Lang LaSalle India Jones Lang Laselle journey from trader to investor JSPL and Adani Power JSW Steel Just Dial Justdial.com K P Narayana Kumar K P Singh K Raheja Corp Kal Airways Kalanidhi Maran Kalanithi Maran Kalpana Saroj Kamani Tubes Ltd Kanwar Deep Singhand his wife Mrs Harpreet Kaur Kareena Kapoor ;Pakistan's mobile company QMobile Karly Karuturei Global Karuturi Global Limited (KGL) Karuturi Global Ltd. Kashmir Kaunsa.com KDJ Indicator KDS Corporation Kennametal India Kerala businessman;Great Scotland Yard;MA Yusuffali;Lulu Group Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Kerry Washington KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) Khalsa Heritage Center in Punjab Khirni Kingsher Airlines Kishore Biyani Kohinoor Kolkata Korean Pop Kotak Mahindra Bank Kraft Kris Gopalakrishnan Kristen Stewart KSE Kulkarni is President and CEO of Fanuc India Kwality Dairy Ltd. L&T LABONITA GHOSH Lakshmi Narayanan Lalvanis Laminitis Landmark Leela Hotels LESCONCIERGES LIC LIC Chairman DK Mehrotra Life of Pi Lifestyle Management Companies Lijjat Papad List of PE firms in India Lite Bite Foods London-based Italian restaurant Scalini Lullu Group and EMKE Group LuLu group chief Yusuffali luxury brands LUXURY CONCIERGE CHINA LUXURY CONCIERGE COMPANIES LVMH M & B Switchgears M P Aggarwal Madhabi Puri-Buch Magazine Magellan Mahabharata Management Mythos Maharaj Kumar Khanderao Shivajirao Gaekwar Maharaja Whiteline Maheshwer Peri Malaysia Airlines Manappuram Finance Mand B Switchgears Manipal Education and Medical Group Manish Kejriwal Manjushree Technopack Marico Market Simulation Software For Stock Market Price Forecasting Marten Pieters Maruti Suzuki Marwari-Owned Companies Mavji Bhai Patel Maxwell Industries Ltd. MBA McDonald's McGraw Hill Financial Inc MCX Medimix Megan Mehul Choksi Micky Jagtiani Microsoft Midcap stocks Milind Deora Mindtree Ltd. Miss India Pooja Chopra Mitt Romney’s Former Firm Bain Capital’s MMTC MNC Stocks MobiKwik Mohali Campus in Chandigarh Moserbaer Mother Dairy Motilal Oswal movie catalogue Movies MS Dhoni MT Educare MTV Indies Mu Sigma Mukesh Ambani Mukul Deora Multibagger Stock Ideas Multibagger Stocks Multibagger Stocks of Century Mumbai Mumbai apartment Mumbai-based law firm Manilal Kher Ambalal & Co Mumbai-based Vardenchi Motorcycles Mumbai-born software tycoon Vivek Ranadive Mumbai's Nepean Sea Road Muthoot Finance Mysore N. Jayakumar N. R. Narayana Murthy Naandi Community Water Services Nalanda Nalanda Capital Nalanda Capital India Advisors Pvt. Ltd. NaMo Nandan Nilekani Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals Narendra Modi Naresh Hosangady Navi Mumbai Neil Gaiman Nepal's first Forbes billionaire Nestle Net worth Neuland Laboratories Nextant Aerospace NHPC Nifty Crash 2012 NIIT Nikhil Nanda-Shweta Bachchan Nikhil Zaveri Nilesh Parwani Nilgiris Nirav Modi Nita Ambani Nitasha Thapar Nitin Paranjpe Nokia Noodle Bar North Block Norwest Venture Partners NotionPress nse2rich Office Relationships Office Space Oil Marketing Companies Old News ONE CONCIERGE OneLife Capital Advisors online tutoring firm TutorVista Orbit Transport OSCARS Owings & Merrill LLP Palm Beach School Pan India Food Solutions Panipat Papa John's Paras Pharmaceuticals Pascal Witaszek Patanjali Ayurved Patanjali Ayurved Ltd PC Jeweller Ltd PC Jewellers PE fund CX Partners Peninsula Land Penny Stock Perkins Eastman Peter Lynch Pharmaceutical MNC stocks Pharmaceutical packaging material maker PHL Pidilite Industries Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering Company Ltd. Piramal Life Sciences Ltd. Pizza Hut Playboy founder Hugh Hefner Ploughing got posh: A Ferrari for your farm? Politics Pooja Deora Powai Power of Ideas 2012 Premium concierge firms like Les Concierges Services PRIME Prime Focus Prime Securities Private Equity Priyank Sukhija Priyanka Gandhi Prof Gita Gopinath Promoter shares Promoter stakes Property Advisory Firm Knight Frank Property rates PropTiger.com Provident Fund (EPF) PSU PSY PTI PURE Purple Squirrel purvismultibaggerstockideas.blogspot.in PVR Q&A Quartz Question from nse2zoom to stockfundoo.com QUINTESSENTIALLY Quintessentially Lifestyle Quotes R K Damani Radhakishan Damani Rags-To-Riches Stories Rahul Mishra Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Rana Kapoor Rapps Rare Enterprises Ratnakar Bank Ravi Subramanian Ravi Venkatesan Raymond Group Chairman Singhania RBI Reading Ready-To-Move House vs Under-Construction One Real Estate Real estate consultant Real Estate Research Firm Liases Foras real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle India Real Pillars Consultancy Private Limited Recession Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc Reckitt India recordings of Frank Sinatra RedBull RedBus Rediff Reese Witherspoon Reliable Records Reliance Broadcast Network Reliance Communications; 4G; Anil Ambani Reliance Defence Systems Pvt. Ltd Reliance Industries Reliance Infrastructure Reliance Mediaworks Ltd RentMyText.in Restaurateur Retail REUTERS RIL Rio Rishikesh Robert G Hagstrom Robert Vadra Robo Queen Rohan Murthy-Lakshmi Venu Rohini Nilekani Roopa Kudva Roshni Nadar Malhotra Royal Building and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd Royal Enfield RPG Enterprises RTI Rupee Ruppee Sabeer Bhatia Sachin Tendulkar Safdie Architects Safe Baby Saffron SAIF Partners SAIL Salman Khan Salvatore Ferrancane Sameer Gaur Sampark Foundation Samtel Display Systems Sandeep Gajakas Sarwan 'Sam' Poddar Satya Hinduja Search SEBI Self-Publishing Sensex Sequoia Sequoia Capital Shashi Tharoor Sheth brothers - Bharat Sheth and Ravi Sheth Shoe-laundry business Shree Ganesh Jewellery Shriram City Union Finance Siddhartha Lal Singapore based Mittu Chandilya Skidmore Skore Skyscrapers Smart City SME Rating Agency of India Ltd. (SMERA) Snapdeal Sneha and Sweta Balakrishnan SoBe Societe Generale Sonia Gandhi Sotirio Bulgari Soumya Rajan South Mumbai Spaghetti Kitchen Speciality Restaurants Spice SpiceJet Spire Edge in Manesar Sports marketing firm Rhiti Spot Fixing Spy Satellites Squeakee SRS Group Standalone store in India Standard and Poor's Standard Chartered Bank Starbucks StartupCatalyst.in Startups Statue of Unity Stem Cell Banking Business Stephen Molyneaux Sterling Biotech Steve Ballmer Stock Crash Stock Knowledge Stock strategy Stocks Stocks of Future StoreMore StoreMore Storage Solutions Subex Subroto Bagchi Subway Subway and Pollo Campero Suhail Rizvi Sun Direct TV Super-luxury Rs 100-cr flats Suzlon Energy Swarnim Sankul-I Swiss watch brand Jaeger-LeCoutre (JLC) Syed Asif Ibrahim Syrian Electronic Army Taslima Nasreen Tata Global Beverages Tata Housing Tata Motors Tata Power Tatas retirement home TATASTEEL TechMahindra app called FightBack Technical Analysis Software For Canadian Stocks Technology Ventures Technopak Tehelka Tehri Dam Telangana TERMINAL 2 in Mumbai The Brick House in Gujarat the British company The Deltin The Gangnam Style effect The Harvard Professor from Mysore The Periodic Table Of Alcohol The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in India Thunderbird Thyrocare Thyrocare Technologie Tiger Global Times Group Top 5 Amusement Parks in India Tree House Education Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri Triumph Motorcycles TTK Healthcare TTK Prestige Twin Courtyard house in Chandigarh Twitter Tycoons Type Of Technical Analysis Charts Tzinga UB’s Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizer (MCF) Udit Mittal Ujaas Energy Limited UK based consultants W S Atkins Ukraine UltraTech Cement Ltd Unison International United Breweries Unlisted Firms unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) US US NBA team Sacramento Kings V Balakrishnan V G Siddhartha Vaatsalya Hospitals Valisure Value Capture Financing (VCF) Value Investing Vani Hari Varun Thapar VEDANTA Vedic Broadcasting Ltd Velumani Venture capital firm Viceroy Hotels Video Recruit India Videocon Vijay Kedia Vijay Mallya Vikas Oberoi Vikram Bakshi Vikram Oberoi Vikram Thapar Villa Nirmala Vineet Nayar Vini Consumer Products Pvt Ltd Vishesh Jayawanth VLADIMIR PUTIN VSAT Wadhwa Group Wagles Walden International Walmart Warren Buffet Waterfield Advisors Welspun Corp. Who Moved My Interest Rate? Wimbledon ( 24 June- 4 July 2013) Windward Wipro Wockhardt Women Safety Wonobo.com World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta WORLDS WEALTHIEST PEOPLE www.HelpingDoc.com www.lijjat.com www.masterandstudent.com www.nse2rich.com www.pharmaceutical-technology.com Yahoo Yash Raj Films YES Bank yowoto.com Zahabiya Khorakiwala Zee Learn Zomato
  

Nifty-50 Heatmap

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Stocks

Gainers

Loosers

Price Shockers

BSE 52 Week High and Low

Volume Shockers

Insurance Companies - Likes

Promoter Holdings Check

Foreign Promoter Cos

FII Hot Favorites

IPO Tracker

BSE Result Calender

Stock Market Watch