Today, the Heroes of the Industry are Moneylenders, Not Engineers

Passionate builder Surendra Hiranandani looks back at a simpler time for the real estate sector and regrets the shift from creativity in design to creativity in financing.

- Samar Srivastava

Surendra Hiranandani, 62, trained to be a doctor but became a builder. a successful builder at that. along with elder brother Niranjan, he created one of Mumbai’s best known real estate brands. after an amicable family business separation in 2005, Surendra set up the House of Hiranandani with residential projects in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. In an interview with Forbes India, the founder and managing director of House of Hiranandani bemoans the fact that the industry is now dominated by financiers instead of architects and engineers. edited excerpts:

Your brother Niranjan and you started the company in 1980. You were first-generation entrepreneurs. What were the initial years like?

In those days, we had no capital. My father [the late Dr LH Hiranandani] was a doctor in Bombay [Mumbai now]. I was studying medicine and I thought I would also be a doctor. The objective at the time [for most doctors] in South Bombay was to go overseas. Till 1978, if you had a degree from a medical college in Mumbai, you could walk into the US Consulate and get a green card.

[Instead], we [both the brothers] started a textiles business and took a factory on lease in an industrial estate in Kandivali. We also got involved in some food export. This was between 1976 and 1980 when we dabbled unsuccessfully in various ventures.

Then in 1980 we came across a land proposal. We could get the land on deferred payment and sell apartments at Rs 63 per sq ft with Rs 3 per sq ft as profit. We sold about 40,000 sq ft but the guy who sold it to us turned out to be a crook and our solicitors didn’t guide us either. It took us four years to clear the title and he agreed to sell it. We sold it for Rs 75 lakh and that became our capital. With that, we entered the real estate business.