Balwas, Goenkas came together 8 years back

Shahid Usman Balwa, 38, one of two promoters of DB Realty, was named India’s youngest billionaire by the Forbes magazine after his company listed on the bourses in February last year. His co-promoter Vinod Goenka was also on the list.

On Wednesday, Balwa, who also doubles up as the vice-chairman of Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd, was remanded to custody by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in New Delhi.

Balwa was arrested late night in Mumbai on Tuesday following a CBI probe into the allotment of mobile phone licences by the tainted former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja.

Balwa and his family have been in the real estate business since the last 95 years, the company’s prospectus filed during the initial public offering last year said.

The Balwa family has been a dominant name in the central and South Mumbai business circles, while the other partner, Goenka’s father practically developed the Gokuldham area in Goregaon East.

The company has huge realty assets in the Goregaon and Kandivali suburbs. They also had the dairy business in common.

Eight years back, Balwa and Goenka joined hands to float the DB Group, and started developing projects like the Crystal Mall and Le Meridien Hotel at Sahar Road.

In January 2007, the company was formally incorporated as DB Realty to bring in private equity contribution from IL&FS, Trinity Capital, Bollywood Mauritius (Lehman) and Walkinson - all inducted between 2007-09.

In 2008, Swan bagged 2G licences for 13 circles (there are 22 circles in India), including the very lucrative Mumbai and Delhi circles by paying around Rs1,600 crore. Swan later sold 45% of the company to Etisalat, the United Arab Emirates-based operator, for Rs4,500 crore.