Originally published 2007, part of a series I did for a biography website. Can’t even remember who now, but it’s long gone.
Kushal Pal Singh was at one time in the top ten world’s richest billionaires, with an estimated net worth of $30 billion USD, though recessed back to the single-digit billions in recent years. He is the chairman of DLF Universal Limited, the largest real estate development company in India. He is commonly known to the world as K.P. Singh.
Kushal Pal Singh was born August 15, 1931, in Bulandshahar in Uttar Pradesh. He is the son of Chaudhury Raghuvendra Singh, who founded the DLF Group in 1946. Kushal Pal Singh holds a science degree from Meerut College, and, unusual for a world-class billionaire, served a nine year tour of duty with a cavalry regiment in the Indian Army, known as The Deccan Horse. It was after this service that he joined the family business.
When DLF Limited was begun, they were involved in the development of some of the first residential colonies in Delhi, India, including Krishna Nagar in East Delhi, which they completed in 1949. They went on to found and develop many other urban colonies, including South Extension, Greater Kailash, Kailash Colony and Hauz Khas. India’s Delhi Development Act of 1955 led to the creation of the Delhi Development Authority. This, plus the fact of India’s newly-won independence, paved the way for Delhi to blossom from a collection of villages and colonies into a modern city throughout the mid-20th century. DLF Limited rode this wave forward, continuing to buy and develop land throughout India, especially into the district of Gurgaon in the adjacent state of Haryana.
Their first landmark building development was DLF Qutab Enclave, which is known today as “DLF City”. The development spreads across 3,000 acres in Gurgaon and includes residential, commercial and retail areas along with schools, hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, and a golf course country club. In the process, Gurgaon evolved from a village of farms into a modern metropolis. DLF City today is recognized as Asia’s largest privately-formed township.
Under the guidance of Chaudhury Raghuvendra Singh, and later Kushal Pal Singh after 1961, DLF continued its goal of “building India”, as their logo says, by completing group housing projects, community shopping centers, office buildings, retail complexes, parks, homes, and hotels, and premium residential complexes, taking them into the 21st century.
A large degree of DLF’s success comes from the boom of the Indian market. The significant economic reforms of 1991 have literally given India its rebirth. In just the space of a single generation, India has transformed into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. It remains to be seen as to whether the significant gains of the region can be maintained, or whether, as some forecasters have predicted, India will inevitably suffer growing pains and slow its economy again.
Lately, the huge building boom in Dubai, UAE, has spun off into more development opportunities for DLF. Not directly, but indirectly through joint ventures and partnerships with many of the real estate developers there, who have proven their track record, to come to India to share the growth. Partners of DLF who are also involved in Dubai development include Nakheel of Dubai, WSP Group Plc, and Hilton Hotels.
Kushal Pal Singh’s share of the family DLF business was $21 billion USD back when the company went public. The stock share price of DLF soared since this time, riding the staggering economic growth of the nation of India.
