India's Most Expensive Flat Sold

By Staff

Imagine sleeping at night in India's most expensive flat ever that cost you only Rs. 34, Crore. Seems like floating in the seventh heaven without a single worry.

One swinging high in dreams since yesterday is a UK-based NRI, Kewalramani. He has bought the apartment in the name of Record Investments and Leasing Pvt Ltd.

The bidding for four-bedroom flat was done at the Citibank office in Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) at 10.30 am on Wednesday. Family members and representatives of some of India Inc's top guns settled down to outbid each other for a luxurious apartment. Only to realize that they lost it by a stranger.

Till yesterday flats in NCPA were owned by companies and not individuals. The National Centre for the Performing Arts is the promoter of the property. When bookings for the upmarket building began in the early 1990s, the rate was about Rs 7,000 a sq ft. However during the peak of the property boom in 1995-96, apartments at NCPA fetched about Rs 30,000 a sq ft. According to as source one of the clause in the NCPA sale agreement stipulates that if a flat is resold, 50% of the profit will go to NCPA, of which half will be given to the government of Maharashtra. Due to the clause it is alleged that many sale transactions in this building are not registered.

Seems like there is lots of money going around the world these days, in infinite number of folds, especially with Indians. A research states that, Lakshmi N Mittal, Chairman and CEO, of the LNM Group, owns a central London house for a stunning price of 70 million (8.25 million or about Rs 560 crore). It is one of the most expensive houses in the world. However the costliest one till date is a mansion worth 9 million (75 million) in Updown Court, Windlesham, England The unlived-in mansion encompasses 103 rooms, five swimming pools and its own 50-seat screening room. The property oozes opulence, from the 24-carat-gold leafing on the library floor to the heated marble driveway. It even has a squash court, bowling alley and tennis court. It is listed with Hamptons International and Savills.