In 3 years, Vadra firms reaped up to 600% profit in land deals

RAJASTHAN | Pattern to profits: Firms continued to buy land at old rates in areas where they were making profit

The Indian Express, 27 November, 2014

Gajner in Bikaner, one of the villages where Vadra firms bought land

Three companies owned by Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, made profits up to 600 per cent within three years of investment in real estate in Rajasthan.

Official records accessed by The Indian Express also show that even as Vadra’s firms were selling land in 2012 at  three to seven times the price they bought it for in 2009-10, they were buying land in the same areas at, roughly, the 2009-10 rates.

In all, Vadra’s Sky Light Realty, Sky Light Hospitality and Blue Breeze Trading executed 58 land deeds in Bikaner’s Kolayat tehsil between 2009 and 2013.

A scrutiny of these deeds reveals that Vadra’s firms bought 197 hectares in 2009-10 at a price that ranged from Rs 44,000 per hectare to 1 lakh per hectare. Almost all this land was sold off in 2012 at prices ranging from Rs 2.47 lakh per hectare to Rs 7.4 lakh per hectare.

Within two months of the last sale in 2012, Vadra’s firms again bought 214 hectares at prices ranging from Rs 80,000 per hectare to Rs 1.21 lakh per hectare.

Those who bought this land included nephews of a former Rajasthan finance minister and two individuals who were witness to land deals of the companies.

Details of the transactions of the three Vadra firms, as per records:

Sky Light Realty

In 2010, Sky Light Realty Pvt Ltd bought 60.153 hectares in eight deals for Rs 46 lakh — at an average of Rs 76,000 per hectare. Between March and May 2012, the company sold the land in 10 deals for Rs 2.96 crore — at an average of Rs 4.7 lakh per hectare, over six times the price it paid in 2010. It made a huge profit when it sold 29.36 hectares, bought for Rs 28 lakh in March 2010, to Fonroche Saaras Energy Pvt Ltd for Rs 199.56 lakh in May 2012.

Incidentally, Sky Light Realty sold the first lot of land in eight deals in March-April 2012 at the price of Rs 2.47 lakh per hectare. Within days, the price jumped to Rs 6.79 lakh per hectare when the company sold 3.25 hectares to one Rushipal of Haryana in May 2012. The same month, Mumbai-based Fonroche bought 29.36 hectares from Sky Light Realty, and 3.25 hectare from Rushipal, at the rate of Rs 6.79 lakh per hectare.

While Sky Light Realty sold land for an average of Rs 4.72 lakh per hectare between March and May 2012, it purchased another 71.47 hectares from village residents in four deals during June-July 2012 at an average price of Rs 82,000 per hectare. The company still holds this land, marginally above the land ceiling.

Sky Light Hospitality

In January 2010, Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd bought 69.55 hectares in two deals for Rs 72 lakh — at a little over Rs 1 lakh per hectare. In January 2012, it sold the land in two separate deals to Delhi’s Allegeny Finlease Pvt Ltd for Rs 5 crore — at Rs 7.41 lakh per hectare, seven times the price paid two years ago.

In four deals in June 2012, Sky Light Hospitality purchased nearly 70 hectares at an average of Rs 80,000 per hectare — less than what it paid in 2009. Barring land sold for Rs 6 lakh to one Meetu Agarwal of Bikaner in January 2013, ostensibly to bring down the company’s holding below the ceiling limit, land purchased in 2012 is still with Sky Light Hospitality.

Blue Breeze Trading

In June 2009, Blue Breeze Trading Pvt Ltd purchased 50 hectares in four deals in Kolayat for Rs 40 lakh at an average price of Rs 80,000 per hectare. The company picked up another 17.40 hectare in April 2010 for Rs 7.70 lakh at Rs 44,000 per hectare.

In April 2012, Blue Breeze Trading sold 41.39 hectare to VCB Trading Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, in three lots for a little over Rs 1 crore — at an average of Rs 2.47 lakh per hectare. Next month, it sold the remaining 26 hectares to Fonroche in two deals for Rs 1.77 crore at an average of Rs 6.79 lakh per hectare. In all, Blue Breeze made Rs 2.79 crore after investing Rs 47.7 lakh — the return almost 600 per cent in less than three years.

In June that year, Blue Breeze Trading purchased another 71.96 hectares in Kolayat for Rs 87.50 lakh — at an average of Rs 1.21 lakh per hectare. The entire holding was sold to nine individuals — eight in Bikaner and one in Faridabad — through 11 deals made in January and May 2013.