Hiranandani Future Is Uttar Pradesh No Ease Of Doing Business Navi Mumbai Vs Thane

TITLE: Hiranandani: The Future is Uttar Pradesh, No Ease of Doing Business, Navi Mumbai vs Thane CHANNEL: Vishal Bhargava DATE: 2026-04-29 ---TRANSCRIPT--- Powai, Thane, Navi Mumbai. Which one has been your toughest experience? I think Powai. The starting point in life was very tough. I didn’t have any money. Banks were not ready to give me any money and there was lot of tough. I borrowed money at 2% interest per month in order to start Powai. So, very tough. So, Panvel has been easier. Much easier as comparatively speaking. Navi Mumbai has had a long frustrating journey in its rise. If you were the man in charge of the city, what would you have done to accelerate the rise? I think two things I would have done. I would have shifted the um Sachivalaya Mantralaya, High Court, and all these things to Navi Mumbai and made it the new city and center of gravity and given a huge bungalow to the Chief Minister and the Chief Justice. I think uh the center of gravity would have um moved there much faster and much better. So, you would have got a great burst of energy in that area. Okay. Uh do you expect Navi Mumbai to overtake Thane as a destination? Mumbai 3.0? 100% it will be a new center of gravity second to none ever created because it has all the components of the future. It has connectivity, it has the Navi Mumbai Airport, you have enough land equivalent to half the land of Mumbai empty. You have Alibaug in terms of the hospitality on one side, you have education campus, they’re planning to have um hos- uh hospitals, uh IT, data centers, you name it and that’s coming there. So, the growth of the economy, jobs, employment, travel, tourism, IT, and residences. So, all that quality of life with the rising GDP of the country, the competition is lethal. The growth is going to be just unbelievable. So, Mumbai 3.0 will overtake Thane in your

For sure. For sure. For sure. Um which would be your top market for the coming decade all across India? Since Since basically you have to read a lot, travel a lot, what do you think? I think um Mumbai 3.0 would be the highest for growth center for me as a company and that’s what I see. I see a big growth center taking place in UP. The future looks very bright looking at the kind of infrastructure, religious destinations, new airport Java being the largest in Asia. I think all those combinations is going to create um UP to be the next destination. Uh so, I think these two areas will compete to become one of the best destinations in terms of growth and opportunity in the next 10 years. Okay. If Mr. Hiranandani was the CM of Maharashtra or Anil Kapoor of Nayak for a day, for one day, what would you do to reimagine Mumbai? I think um vision what needs to be done for all sectors of society and make a plan. Slums, health, education, quality of life, transport, and communication. Once you make that plan and give a direction and say, “This is the way to do it.” then you can get the best people in the world, including bureaucrats, to implement it. But the road map of all this has to be very clear, not for 3 years and 5 years. We need for 50 years. So, Mumbai 3.0, 50 years. Mumbai roads, 50 years. If we can think of 50 years instead of 5 years and 10 years, I think we will That is what I would do as a CM if I was there for one day. Okay. Uh recently the CM said that home prices in Mumbai are too high despite many government benefits given to builders. What would you say? Do you Do you agree with that? Yeah, but the the the state government is equally responsible and the corporation because when I sell a place for 50,000 rupees, 25,000 rupees is government collection. GST, stamp duty, development charges, other charges, etc. land under construction, labor cess, you name all those put together, uh 25,000 plus I have to pay and I’m not talking about income tax. That comes under the residuary. So, government is equally partner in terms of the price rise. Okay. Uh what’s the difference between politicians of the earlier era versus today’s era? I think our today’s area politicians have a bigger vision and a bigger aspiration of the thing and the and the environment has helped them. In the earlier days, I think the politicians did not have money. I remember Bombay-Pune road when this discussion took place and flyovers of Mumbai, 1650 crores for Bombay-Pune road and 1350 crores for flyovers of Mumbai and the finance minister and the finance secretary said we have 5 crores. Uh this is confirmed by Mr. Katkari in his speech recently. And we had to raise and it was very difficult to raise bonds in those days. Hence, MSRDC was created and we raised those money through bonds in order to make that road. So, money was not easily available either to the private sector or to the government sector. Today, for any project whatsoever, whether in the private sector or in the government sector, if it is efficient and correct, viability, money is not a concern. Okay. Barring the current Chief Minister, who has been the most important Chief Minister for Maharashtra in the last 50 years in your experience? I think all of them were important. Everybody did something or the other. Uh I can only mention one Chief Minister who was Vasantdada Patil in the good old days. He was only first standard fail. But the common sense that he had when I used to meet him at a very young age, I was amazed that the vision and clarity of that man in terms of the grassroots requirements that are there is amazing. So, the politicians all have it. The question is different. The question is, after understanding what they did, how much did they execute? Is the problem. So, understanding most of the politicians know everything or they are have bureaucrats or the people and advisers to tell them. But how they execute the vision, not many of them are able to do it and that is where I think Mr. Devendra Fadnavis excels in terms of what he has done. Many of the others have also done a lot, but I think this man takes it great step forward. Okay. So, execution, Mr. Fadnavis at the top. And there is no no comparison in what he has been able to do. Who’s the one builder who’s forgotten but deserves to be remembered? I think many. Uh I can only tell you Mr. Maker, the father of Dr. Maker. Uh he was the person who made some six buildings in Nariman Point. 40 buildings were made, but those six buildings in those days also stood out. So, when you are making 50 buildings in that area and you make just five or 10 buildings and you make them extraordinarily better, that stands out. But subsequently, I’ve seen Rajahs, Lokhandwalas, many many many good builders, Mr. Oberoi’s, Lodhas. All of them have got qualities of excellence. So, over a period of time, all these are my mentors for the good work that they have done. So, different people do different good. They’re my mentors for the good work that they do. Okay. Uh in terms of ease of doing business, 1 to 10, uh where do you think India is now? Long way off. Maybe four or five out of 10. We have a long way to go. Long. And uh I think Prime Minister’s trying very hard, but we haven’t reached there. I mean the the veteran builder, Vijay Wadhwa, uh in a podcast to me recently said that while big builders have become responsible in acquisition of projects, it’s the mid-level players, there’s a frenzy in terms of acquisition in Mumbai. Would you agree with that? I was like that when I was younger. So, I I You know, at every stage of life, we There are people who have intelligence and there those are people who have a fire in the belly which goes beyond intelligence. So, you don’t use your mind, you use your belly to decide. And at a younger age, one does do many of those things. Even I have done and made mistakes. So, frenzy is about age and wisdom and uh I understand uh Mr. Vijay Wadhwa has been wise for a very from a very young age. But I don’t think I was very wise at a young age, too. So, he’s right. He’s right. Has Niranjan Hiranandani ever faced a loss in his project? The only project where I had a capital loss was in New Bombay when I bought a plot and the frenzy was that I lost four times. I couldn’t get a plot in terms of the the term of the tendering. So, the last time I just went overboard and I did and I made a cash loss. Never make that mistake again. Okay. So, always buy land cheap. That’s beautiful. Not very cheap. It should be efficient. I don’t think you can buy a cheap plot. Cheap land. You have to buy an efficient one. You may buy an expensive land, but then your returns are higher. So, you have to say and be able to balance what you’re investing and what you’re getting. So, at least you are making some money into it. I’m not saying that I I look only at the highest profit land. I look at efficient land where I can leave a legacy. Powai, leave rather than just profit. So, I promise you if I’d invested somewhere else, I would have made more money. But, I would not have left a legacy that I’ve left in Powai or in estate in Thane or what we are planning to do in Fortune City or what we are planning in Hiranandani said. I can make much more profit by investment in different other ways in real estate and make maybe more money. But, the legacy that I will leave behind because I’m doing these projects is uncomparable in terms of satisfaction to my mind and heart. Okay. Last question. Recently, I was reading the autobiography of DLF K.P. Singh and he had a very interesting story. He said being such a big developer, he managed the ecosystem very well. Bureaucrats, politicians, but there was one politician, Bansi Lal, who harassed him to almost the point where he had to go into hiding. Has it ever happened to someone like you? Now you guys are open. Of course. I have I had to run away also. And uh I was a victimized and um it’s part of the game of life that uh really happens and uh politicians can become very vindictive and very bad. But, we have accepted that kind of a situation. It’s a kind of a thing that in the line in business that you do, it can happen. So, it’s not something and it’s a not about what you do wrong, it’s about what they want you to do. And sometimes the two is there. Like one of them wanted his son to be my partner and I didn’t accept it. So, it was kind of victimization too. So, all these things happen and it’s part of the game. How do you handle such situations? Well, it’s difficult and uh so, but like I mean it’s it’s a kind of a problem which you have. If you’re dealing with land, if you’re dealing with property, then these kind of problems will come to you. So, you can’t say that I won’t have this kind of property and be in the real estate business. Okay. Okay. I would I would I wouldn’t ask the name of the politician, but thank you so much. I wouldn’t tell you. Thank you so much. [laughter] Thank you. Thank you.