The dazzling growth of Chordias

The Chordia-Pawar connection dates back to Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar’s college days when he was studying at Pune’s Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce. Pawar was then a classmate of Panchshil Realty promoter Atul Chordia’s father Ishwardas. The Chordias hail from a family of sugar traders in Bhawani Peth area of the satellite city.

The Chordia family entered into the real estate market in the mid-1990s and their rise since has been phenomenal. The Panchshil Realty group is now one of Pune’s real estate giants and has many prestigious projects under its belt. The company’s website mentions 1996 to be the year of its inception “as a real estate and project management company”.

In 2002, it began constructing the International Convention Centre on Senapati Bapat Road in Pune. The project, initiated when Sharad Pawar’s brother Pratap was president of Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), has been described by Panchshil as “South Asia’s largest composite trade and convention centre”.

During 2009-10, the group constructed over nine million sq ft of prime real estate. It is now developing over 23 million sq ft of mixed-use projects which include IT and corporate parks, high-end residential projects, villas, retail and shopping malls, and five start business hotels.

Some of its prestigious projects include the EON Free Zone, a massive IT and IT-enabled services special economic zone, the Pune Marriot Hotel, and Yoo Pune, exclusive luxury apartments designed by Philippe Starck.