Meet the king of real estate space in India- Kushal Pal Singh

This billionaire has made DLF the biggest company in the real estate sector by market cap. 

A man who served the Indian Army went on to become a billionaire in future. Kushal Pal Singh is the 23rd richest person in India according to Forbes and has a net worth of Rs 66,750 crore as of March 24 2022. He is the chairman and COE of DLF Limited, which is a popular name in the real estate space of India.

KP Singh completed his higher secondary education at Meerut College, Uttar Pradesh. He then joined the Indian Army right after graduating in aeronautical engineering from UK. In 1960 he joined American Universal Electric Company and, soon later after its merger with DLF Universal Limited in 1979 he took over as the managing director.

In 2007 the company went for an IPO and successfully bagged about Rs 16,800 crore which turned out to be one of the biggest IPOs in India, due to which there was a tremendous hike in the company’s market capitalization, which made him and his family one of the richest people in India. Eventually, he led the company to be one of the leading companies in India in the real estate sector.

The DLF City in Gurugram is about 3000 acres and has a total land bank of around 10,255 acres. Under his leadership, the company has constructed shopping malls, earthquake-proof office buildings, apartments and leisure facilities in Gurugram.

In an interview, Jack Welch, the former chairman and CEO of General Electric, said that it was Singh who initiated GE’s entry into India. Over the years he has achieved many awards and has been recognized for his work but the ones that stand out are when the Indian government awarded him the Padma Bhushan and Samman Patra Award for being one of the top taxpayers of the Delhi region.

At the ripe age of 90, he has let his son Rajiv take over the company. After being the chairman for more than five decades, he handed over the business in June 2020.