Adani may invest $1.5 billion in Dharavi

$4-5 billion would be needed to complete the redevelopment project in seven years

- Anirudh Laskar

The Adani group is considering infusing at least 12,000 crore of funds to start the redevelopment work at Mumbai's Dharavi, Asia's largest slum, two people directly aware of the development said.

On July 14, the Maharashtra government approved the Adani group to redevelop the crowded Dharavi slum-a complex 590acre cluster of irregular structures, rickety tenements and decrepit buildings sheltering over 900,000 citizens and hundreds of small commercial setups.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV), 80% owned by the Adani group and the rest by the Maharashtra government, was formed in September, following which discussions internally and with the state authorities, including the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), have been initiated for the $1.5 billion (nearly 12,500 crore) investment, according to the people cited above.