New Delhi, April 16 -- The Camellias, an ultra-luxury project of real estate developer DLF Ltd in Gurugram that has made headlines for the past many months as wealthy individuals, startup founders and family offices bought multi-million-dollar apartments, is in the limelight again but for the wrong reason.
India's capital markets regulator has traced funds that the founders of Gensol Engineering Ltd and electric mobility startup BluSmart raised as loans from state-run lenders to buy a high-end apartment at The Camellias instead of purchasing EVs as was mandated.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India on Tuesday issued an interim order against Gensol and its founders, Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, as it flagged governance lapses and diversion of funds, including for buying the super-expensive property in the heart of Gurugram. SEBI banned the founders from holding any key roles in Gensol and barred them from participating in the securities market.
The news has renewed attention on the project that has become a magnet for India's startup elite.
The Camellias has emerged as a high-demand address for startup founders and high-net-worth individuals. Among its residents are Mamaearth co-founder Varun Alagh, boAt co-founder and chief marketing officer Aman Gupta, BharatPe's former managing director Ashneer Grover, Lenskart co-founder Peyush Bansal, Cars24 co-founder and CEO Vikram Chopra, and Pine Labs co-founder Lokvir Kapoor, according to publicly available documents and multiple media reports over the past few months.
Private equity executives and family office investors have also entered the fray. For instance, TPG Capital's Puneet Bhatia and Hippo Stores' Arvind Mendiratta are among those who own units in the ultra-luxury complex.
Even the bootstrapped founders who have made it big aren't far behind. In one of the country's most high-value residential transactions, Rishi Parti, founder of Info-x Software Technology, purchased a Rs 190 crore penthouse last year, marking a record in India's luxury real estate market.
Other prominent transactions include a Rs 95 crore deal by Smiti Agarwal, wife of V-Bazaar chairman and managing director Hemant Agarwal, and a series of purchases by members of the Dhanuka family, who acquired multiple apartments at The Camellias between 2015 and 2024. These properties, ranging from Rs 22 crore to Rs 32.5 crore, were recently formalized through conveyance deeds filed in April last year.
Another prominent name is JC Chaudhry, founder of Aakash Educational Services, who acquired three apartments at The Camellias for a total of about Rs 150 crore, in addition to a bungalow in Delhi's Greater Kailash for Rs 51 crore, in 2022.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.