DB Realty, HDIL, Sumer Corporation and RNA sold off at least 80% of the TDR in their possession before Chavan announced a 1.33 FSI.
It will take the state government some months, if not years, to earn additional revenue because of the increased Floor Space Index (FSI) in the suburbs. But the TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) lobby, it seems, has already pocketed almost Rs1,000 crore.
Call it coincidence or conspiracy, the fact is DB Realty, HDIL, Sumer Corporation and RNA sold off at least 80% of the TDR in their possession before chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announced a 1.33 FSI for the suburbs.
BMC records show all the companies sold a bulk of the TDR in their possession in the past seven months at Rs3,500-Rs4,000 per sqft. DB Realty had 1.23 lakh sqm of TDR about seven months ago; it now has only 37,475 sqm. HDIL had 1.46 lakh sqm; it now has 32,799 sqm. Sumer Corporation had 31,030 sqm; it now has only 4,140 sqm. RNA had 10,125 sqm, it now has 5,690 sqm. The present rate, following the chief minister’s announcement, is anywhere between Rs2,800 per sqft and Rs3,000 per sqft.
A source said it was a planned strategy. “The CM would announce an extra FSI for suburbs only after these developers had sold off a major chunk of the TDR in their possession,” he said. “If the chief minister had made this announcement six months ago, these developers would have lost at least Rs400 crore.”
But an urban development department official denied it. “The file was pending with the legal department. There was no conspiracy to help the so-called
TDR lobby.”
The source, however, said the decision was systematically mired in a legal tangle to delay the announcement of an additional FSI for suburbs.
In 2008, the government had attempted to raise the FSI in suburbs by amending the development control rules and introducing premiums. The urban development department official told DNA on Thursday that some developers who control the TDR in the suburbs had moved the Bombay high court against the government.
In 2010, the court turned down the government order saying the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act had no provision for levying a premium on FSI. The government then decided to amend the MRTP Act and empower itself to collect a premium for additional FSI. But it took more than a year to issue a notification as “it was studying the implications of extra FSI on the infrastructure”, a senior state government official said.
A DB realty spokesperson said the company did not even know of the increased FSI till the news came out in the newspapers. “We sell TDR throughout the year. There has been no specific sell offs in the past few weeks because our inventories are limited as of now,” he said.
No one from RNA builders was available for comment because of a death in the family. Paras Gundecha, president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry, refused to speak on the matter. But Niranjan Hiranadani, MD of the Hiranandani Group, said the CM’s decision will have no impact on the present TDR market because many developers have already sold off the TDR in their possession.
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