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RIL has bought Rs 5-billion real estate in 3 years

BS Corporate Bureau

Reliance Industries is emerging as the largest corporate house on a real estate buying spree over the last three years.

It has so far invested over Rs 5 billion on townships and apartments for its employees in various parts of the country.

However, the most expensive amongst these are in and around Mumbai where it houses its senior and most trusted executives.

Over the last three years, the group has bought large chunk of property including residential blocks in different parts of the city ranging from Peddar Road and Prabhadevi in south and central Mumbai to far flung places like Koparkhairane in New Mumbai.

It is estimated that the group owns more than 2,000 residential flats right from Cuffe Parade in south to Andheri in the western suburb and Ghatkopar in the eastern suburb.

At CIDCO's non-resident Indian complex at the end of Palm Beach Road near Nerul, it has picked up 162 apartments. Another 600 apartments have been bought at Koparkhairane, again from CIDCO for Rs 1 billion.

Most of the apartments bought in Navi Mumbai area would be offered to employees joining Reliance Infocom and Reliance Biotech, both of which will have a major presence in that area.

A Reliance group spokesperson declined to comment.

Moreover, it has also bought 38 flats at Oshiwara near Andheri for Rs 140 million and another six flats in May Flower Building in Bandra. At the Union Park area of Chembur, the group has bought 10 flats worth Rs 80 million.

The group forked out Rs 60 million for two apartments especially chosen for its senior officials in the posh locale at Warden road/Peddar road area.

A one-acre plot of land, which houses a heritage bungalow at Altamount Road, is also amongst the costliest properties that the group has recently bought.

The newly built Chaitanya Towers at Prabhadevi will house 60 Reliance employees, while 80 flats have been bought at Naperol Towers which stands in the mill area of Reliance's erstwhile rival Nusli Wadia's textile mills. More than 10 flats have been picked up at Nestle Apartments in the Elphinstone-upper Worli area.

Most of these flats are ready and some of them have been occupied by the employees to whom they have been allotted, a large investment has also been made in three major towers coming up in Parel area on mill land.

Earlier, the Reliance group had bought a large number of flats in the mill area of central Mumbai at Falcon Castle, Orbit Towers, Phoenix Towers and Rishabh Towers.

Apart from Mumbai and its satellite city Navi Mumbai, Reliance has sprawling townships at Jamnagar, Hazira and Patalganga.

New additions to the townships are also likely with Reliance bagging the coveted state-owned Indian Petrochemicals Corporation when it bought a 26 per cent government's equity in the company.

IPCL has townships in Baroda, Nagothane in Maharashtra and Gandhar in Gujarat.

Other cities where Reliance has large residential flats are Surat and Ahmedabad.

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