Table of Contents
Mumbai is a city where land is scarce and perhaps the most expensive in the country. So, who are the biggest landowners of the city? A survey carried out by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) had said that the financial capital is home to some of the biggest landowners who own almost 20% of the total land parcels in the financial capital.
According to a 2015 survey carried by SRA that is in charge of regulating the slum redevelopment projects in Maharashtra, Mumbai’s real estate market comprises land spread across an area of more than 1 lakh acres of which the habitable portion is around 34,000 acres.
Of this, around 20% is owned by nine landlords who are private entities, including families and trusts. Of the 20% roughly around half of the habitable portion is owned by the Godrej family in Mumbai’s Vikhroli area.
1. Godrej Properties
The list of top landowners includes the Godrej family that owns little over 3,400 acres of land, according to the SRA survey in Vikhroli area of Mumbai. The land is located in Vikhroli on the Eastern Express Highway (EEH), according to the survey.
The company has been monetising the land bank in phases. The founding family of Godrej Group, which spans from soaps and home appliances to real estate had in June 2024 reached an agreement to split the conglomerate, with Adi Godrej and his brother Nadir Godrej keeping Godrej Industries that has five listed firms, while cousins Jamshyd and Smita getting unlisted Godrej & Boyce and its affiliates as well as a land bank, including prime property in Mumbai.
“The land bank of around 3,400 acres owned by Godrej family has several reservations due to which there are some limitations. But if we consider the value of the land with these limitations, it may be around ₹30,000 crore and if we exclude the limitations on the land bank, the value may touch more than ₹50,000 crore,” a real estate developer from Mumbai’s central suburbs not wanting to be named said.
Vikhroli is located in the central suburban part of Mumbai surrounded by Powai, Mulund, Bhandup among others. There are reservations of forest, mangroves, coastal regulation zone on a few plots in Mumbai due to which a certain portion of the plot is designated under reservation. Due to reservations, there are limitations with regard to the construction potential of these particular plots, said experts.
Also Read: Nadir Godrej purchases three apartments for ₹180 crore in South Mumbai’s posh Malabar Hill
2. The FE Dinshaw Trust
The FE Dinshaw Trust ranks second and owns around 683 acres of land in Mumbai. The Trust owns land banks located in Malad and surrounding areas, according to the survey.
F E Dinshaw was a Parsi solicitor-financer and a landowner who died in 1936. Dinshaw left behind huge land banks for the family that have from time to time been acquired by the government or monetised.
3. Pratapsingh Vallabhdas Surji’s family
The third biggest land holding in Mumbai is that of Pratapsingh Vallabhdas Surji’s family that owns around 647 acres of land in Bhandup area of Mumbai and its surroundings, it showed.
4. Jeejeebhoy Ardeshir Trust
The fourth biggest land holding in Mumbai is that of Jeejeebhoy Ardeshir Trust. It owns 508 acres of land in Mumbai’s Chembur.
5. The AH Wadia Trust
The Trust owns 361 acres in Kurla. According to media reports, in the early 20th century, the Cama family of Mumbai Samachar, managing the trust. It owned almost one-third of the land in Chembur. Ardeshir Hormusji Wadia, in the early 19th century, obtained the lease for Kurla for a yearly rent of ₹3,587, which is now mostly encroached, according to media reports.
6. Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Group
Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Trust owns 269 acres of land in different parts of Mumbai, according to the SRA survey. Sir Byramjee Jeejeebhoy, a 19th-century Parsi philanthropist, received seven villages totalling 12,000 acres from the East India Company in 1830. According to reports, he also owned Bandra Land’s End, where the Taj Hotel now stands.
Apart from the above, other private landlords such as the Sir Muhummed Yusuf Khot Trust, VK Lal family among others also own large land parcels in Mumbai’s Kanjurmarg and Kandivali area.
Also Read: More than 101 land deals for approximately 2,989 acres closed in FY-24 across cities, including Ayodhya
A historical perspective
It is interesting to note that the Parsi community owns several land banks in Mumbai.
“Since medieval times, India had village landlords who would collect taxes on the agricultural produce of the village on behalf of the rulers. They could take many names and forms – Zamindar, Deshmukh, Khot, etc. When the Portuguese took over northern Konkan, its capital was Bassein or Vasai, far off villages, especially on the various islands of Mumbai were given to noble Portuguese families to administer and they were referred to as Foreiros or Vazadors,” said Bharat Gothoskar, City Chronicler and founder of KHAKI Heritage Foundation.
“When the British started ruling Mumbai, this concept continued, and many villages were given to various wealthy people including Marathi Hindus and Konkani Muslims. But the wealthiest community in the city that made its fortunes in the opium and cotton trade was the Parsi community. Obviously, they got a lion’s share of the land on Salsette island,” Gothoskar added.
Also Read: Mumbai-based Macrotech acquires seven land parcels in Apr to Sep period to build housing projects worth ₹16,600 crore
Government authorities own huge land banks in Mumbai
Along with several private entities that own large land banks in Mumbai, several government agencies like Mumbai Port Trust, National Textiles Corporation, Maharashtra government, Central government, Central Railway, Western Railway also own a significant portion of land parcels in the city.
