Adani Group’s Mumbai slum redevelopment plan to go ahead, after BJP-led alliance wins state elections

TRANSFORMING INDIA’S LARGEST SLUM

With plans to redevelop Dharavi going ahead, leather goods store owner Raju Bhoite is worried about the future of his business and fears he may lose his livelihood.

“If we are removed from here and moved to some other place, I’ll lose my ancestral property,” he said. 

“People know us here. Moving to another place will mean starting from scratch. It will be very difficult.”

Until recently, it was unclear if the Adani Group’s redevelopment plans would proceed. 

Last year, the Maharashtra state government approved the Indian multinational conglomerate’s US$619 million bid to transform the Dharavi slum into a modern urban hub.

Opposition political parties had threatened to scrap plans if they came to power, alleging favouritism based on the close ties between the group’s founder Gautam Adani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But hope for the project revived when the BJP-led Mahayuti political alliance secured a landslide victory in November’s Maharashtra assembly elections, winning 235 out of 288 seats.

Adding to the ambitious plan’s uncertainty is Adani’s legal woes. He is fighting allegations of agreeing to pay more than US$250 million in bribes to Indian officials for solar energy contracts in a case brought against him in the United States.

However, analysts do not expect the group’s latest legal challenges to hold back redevelopment plans. 

“If they can’t do the Dharavi redevelopment, then nobody else can,” said Gulam Zia, executive director at real estate consultancy Knight Frank India.

“So I’m confident that whatever is going ahead in spite of those momentary challenges, we shall see a good conclusion of Dharavi redevelopment happening.”