Singh, Kushal Pal

▪ 2008

born Aug. 15, 1931, Bulandshahar, Uttar Pradesh, India

      In 2007 real-estate baron Kushal Pal Singh became India's second richest person following the wildly successful initial public offering (IPO) by his flagship property development firm, DLF Ltd., on July 5. The much-anticipated IPO raised 91.88 billion rupees (about $2.24 billion) through the sale of 175 million shares of stock and thereby made the offering India's largest-ever IPO. Singh, who with members of his immediate family controlled roughly 87% of DLF, saw a more than 50% increase in his net worth in the months following the IPO. By October, as DLF's stock price continued to soar, his wealth had grown to an estimated 1.29 trillion rupees (about $32.9 billion). Singh thus joined the Ambani brothers—business tycoons Mukesh and Anil—as India's only rupee trillionaires.

      After earning a degree in science from Meerut College, Singh studied engineering in the U.K. and then served as an officer in an elite cavalry regiment in the Indian army. He left the military in 1960 to join DLF, which had been founded in 1946 by his father-in-law, entrepreneur Chaudhary Raghvendra Singh. His father-in-law initially gave him assignments in the manufacturing field. One of Singh's early successes involved a joint venture with a U.S.-based firm to produce automotive batteries and electric motors in India.

      By 1979, however, Singh had set his sights on an ambitious plan to develop property in the small township of Gurgaon in mostly rural Haryana state. He envisioned transforming the area into a satellite city of nearby New Delhi and attracting international companies to establish operations there. He eventually acquired some 1,400 ha (3,500 ac) around Gurgaon, on which DLF constructed modern commercial and residential buildings. In the 1990s General Electric became one of the first major international corporations to lease space in the sprawling new hub known as DLF City. As India emerged as a top outsourcing destination, other well-known companies became DLF tenants, including American Express, British Airways, IBM, and Nestlé.

      Under Singh's leadership, DLF ultimately expanded its development projects far beyond Gurgaon. Money raised in the company's IPO was expected to help finance an array of building projects already under way across India. Despite fears among some experts and analysts of a property market crash, Singh was clearly bullish on the long-term outlook for India's real-estate industry. “You will need 100 DLFs,” he was quoted as saying. At the same time, he seemed increasingly willing to invest in fields other than real estate. In September DLF launched a bid to enter India's telecommunications industry, announcing its intention to apply for licenses to provide telecom services across the country.

Sherman Hollar

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