When it comes to real estate business, we cannot ignore the name of DLF. This company has developed itself into a major business conglomerate in this business. The person heading this great company is none other than its chairman and CEO Mr.Kushal Pal Singh.
DLF is full formed as Delhi Land & Finance Limited. This is a commercial real estate developer. Chaudhary Raghvendra Singh is the founder of this company. He founded it in the year 1946.The headquarters of DLF are in New Delhi, India.
Some of the residential colonies made by DLF in Delhi are Model Town, Rajouri Garden, Krishna Nagar, South Extension, Greater Kailash, Kailash Colony, and Hauz Khas. As such DLF builds residential, office, and retail properties.
Now let us talk about the chairman of DLF. Mr. Kushal Pal Singh was born on 15th November 1931 in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. Chaudhary Mukhtar Singh was his father, who was a reputed lawyer of the city.
Career
He did graduation in science from Meerut College in Uttar Pradesh. Thereafter he went to the United Kingdom and studied aeronautical engineering. He was also selected in the Indian Army by British Officers Services Selection Board, UK. In 1951 he was commissioned into the Deccan Horse. He left the army after some years and joined the American Universal Electric Company in 1960.This company then merged with DLF Universal Limited in 1979. Kushal Pal Singh became the joint managing director of the company together with DLF founder and his father-in-law Chaudhary Raghuvender Singh. The later gave him projects of manufacturing. A joint venture involving a U.S. based firm which produced automotive batteries and electric motors in India, was Kushal Pal Singh’s first achievement in the manufacturing field. Getting turkish citizenship for real estate is quite easy.
It was due to his business acumen that DLF managed to expand its development projects far beyond Gurgaon. It built apartments, shopping malls, and hotels. In 2007 he oversaw the much-anticipated initial public offering, which raised 91.88 billion rupees (about $2.24 billion) through the sale of 175 million shares of stock. It was the largest IPO in India at that time.
Kushal Pal Singh had an ambitious plan to develop property in the small township of Gurgaon which was not much developed then. By the fall of 1979, he had hatched up a plan of transforming Gurgaon into a satellite city. By doing so he thought it would mirror Delhi and attract international companies to start their operations in Gurgaon.
He subsequently bought around 3,500 acres (1,400 hectares) around Gurgaon. DLF constructed many modern commercial and residential buildings on this vast area.
General Electric became the first renowned international company to start its operations in the 1990’s. The area was now transformed into the sprawling new hub called the DLF City.
India was fast emerging as a global outsourcing destination. Very soon many international companies leased space from DLF. This includes the American Express, the British Airways, IBM, Nestle, etc.It was only due to Kushal Pal Singh’s vision that Gurgaon today has become a World centre of business.
A chance meeting with Rajiv Gandhi who was the former Prime Minister of India, when the later was travelling to Gurgaon and had stopped to get water to cool his car’s radiator; had sealed the fate of this army men turned entrepreneur. He has been called as the man behind the development of India’s first smart city – Gurgaon.
Whatever the Odds: The Incredible Story Behind DLF, was published in 2011. This book was written by Kushal Pal Singh himself and it is his autobiography.
He was the 25th richest man of India in the year 2019, as per Forbes India.
Personal life
Kushal Pal Singh’s better half is Indira Singh and he has one son named Rajiv Singh and two daughters named Pia and Renuka.
In the year 2020, his son Rajiv Singh became the Chairman of DLF and Rajiv’s wife Kavita also works with DLF as its Advisor.They have two daughters both of whom help their parents in managing DLF.
Kushal Pal Singh’s elder daughter Renuka is married to G.S. Talwar. The later is a non-executive director at DLF Ltd. And Rahul, their son has also joined DLF. His younger daughter Pia Singh is associated with DLF as a full-time director. Her husband is Timmy Sarna. He is the managing director of DLF Brands Ltd, which is a sister concern of DLF.
In 2011 Kushal Pal Singh or K. P. Singh as he is called,received the Entrepreneur of the Year award at The Asian Awards.He has received the Delhi Ratna Award from the Government of Delhi for his immense contribution in developing the Delhi-NCR region.
Padma Bhusan Award, On 26 January 2010, he was conferred the Padma Bhusan Award, the third highest civilian award of the Indian Government.
This was the journey of Kushal Pal Singh from an ex-army man to a real estate tycoon. He can be rightly said as the man behind the bloom of the bloom city – Gurgaon.Jack Welch, who grew General Electric company into the most valuable public company in the US, and was the first company to start its operations in Gurgaon, has termed K. P. Singh as the man behind his decision to start his operations here. A great business man and a humble human being, Mr. K. P. Singh may not be that well known in India, but his brand DLF is in the lips of every Indian..!
By: SIDHARTHA MISHRA
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