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In recent times, every scam’s trail has led to dubious deals in real estate -Ravi Teja Sharma & Viney Sharma
-The Economic Times


NEW DELHI and CHANDIGARH: It is not without reason that the quintessential real estate firm has become the epicentre in all scams in India in recent times. From Satyam to 2G, Vadra to Saradha and now Railgate - every scam's trail leads to fraudulent investments and dubious deals in the real estate sector. Not only does the barely regulated sector allows rampant transactions in black money allowing scamsters to park their booty in land and buildings, an unchecked rise in property prices because of the infusion of this money has made wily builders, in collusion with corrupt politicians and scamsters, run away with huge profits at the cost of both the homebuyer and the exchequer.

Last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Vijay Singla, the nephew of railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, on charges of bribery. It was later alleged by BJP leader Satya Pal Jain that Singla's company has interests in real estate and is developing a large mall-cum-hotel project in Chandigarh's industrial area. He also owns over 100 acres of land in Derabassi for a housing project and another 32 acres nearby for a school project.

This isn't just an isolated case. Even in the Saradha Group chit fund scam that rocked Kolkata last month, the group has over 100 firms, a majority of which are in the real estate business and it was in these businesses that the chit fund money was funneled. The 2G spectrum scam involved two large real estate firms - Unitech and DB Realty. Last year, Arvind Kejriwal alleged a strong political nexus between DLF and the Haryana government as well as Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and it was alleged that he was given land at lower than market prices by the real estate firm. Back in 2009, Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced founder of Satyam Computers, had confessed to diverting funds from his information technology company to two family-run real estate firms - Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra - and to buy land in and around Hyderabad. That was during the peak of the real estate cycle in the country.

"All the money coming from corruption is going into real estate. That's how such projects are funded. The market value of Acropolis mall in the heart of Chandigarh is no less then Rs 1,000 crore. CBI should probe the entire history of Pawan Bansal's businesses, which are way beyond one can imagine," says Jain.

Land, say property market observers, is where most such "ill-gotten money" is parked. A good amount of this black money also goes into buying apartments, offices and also in buying gold. "There is a fascination for land. India has 17% of the world's population but only 3% of its land. This and government policies ensure there is always a short supply, which has pushed up land prices," says Satish Magar, chairman and managing director of Magarpatta City in Pune, where 123 families pooled about 400 acre of land to set up a company that built the entire city. "If we hadn't come together, the land might have been bought over by developers or would have been grabbed," he said.

Why scamsters choose this sector isn't difficult to imagine though. It's the opaqueness of the sector, its lack of regulation that draws them. "No industry has so much of unaccounted money in the system. Almost 40% of this industry continues to trade in black money," says Samarjit Singh, owner of real estate services firm IndiaHomes (formerly Agni Properties). The venture capital funded company does not accept any payments in cash. "The ability to get away is far greater," he adds.

It is alleged that a majority of political funding comes from this sector and politicians often turn a blind eye to regulation of this sector because of this conflict of interest. "So, many people of dubious background, who would not be able to survive in a regulated environment, thrive in real estate," says a property consultant, who preferred to remain anonymous, as this is a sensitive subject. One of the reasons touted for the great ability of the real estate sector to handle cash is that no formal funding is available or allowed in the country to buy land. Black money generated from such scams and bribes find their way into land and real estate because it is here that one can convert black money into hard assets and get a good return on such money, which would usually be stashed under mattresses.

"It is a vehicle that lends itself well to black money and then there is the spectacular rise in land prices due to a shortage of supply. Where else will you find a combination of the two, except if you want to hoard gold," says Mudassir Zaidi, regional director for global property consultant Knight Frank. As a rule of thumb, since the property boom began in India in 2003, land prices have doubled in most locations every three years.