The Increadable Story of Indiabulls Real Estate

This is the real estate success story of Indiabulls Group. The Company Indiabulls Real Estate was founded by the Indian billionaire Sameer Gehlaut around 2005 in Delhi. It’s his story of how he made Indiabulls real estate share price successful in a difficult situation at that time. Sammer has a net worth of more than $2.1 Billion and is the 29th richest man in India, according to Forbes (2018).

Indiabulls Real Estate Success Story (Sameer Gehlaut)

Here is the list of companies he has founded over the years.

  • Indiabulls Housing Finance (IBHFL)
  • Indiabulls Real Estate
  • Indiabulls Ventures
  • Indiabulls LED
  • Indiabulls Store
  • Indiabulls Pharmaceuticals Ltd
  • Indiabulls Mutual Fund
  • Indiabulls Consumer Finance Limited

The Indiabulls group has a strong grip on these five industries. All of them are performing well.

  • Real Estate
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Lighting
  • Infrastructure
  • Construction Equipment Leasing

Here are some more numbers that can help you with what Sameer Gehlaut has built over the years.

  • Total asset value = ₹90,000 Cr+
  • Market Cap = ₹80,000 Cr+
  • Revenue = ₹20,000 Cr+

Laksmi Mittal, known as Steel Magnet King with a net worth of $18 Billion, made a huge contribution to the success of Sameer Gehlaut.

I will share everything from the very beginning. 

  • How did Sameer start this business?
  • What were the setbacks? 
  • How did he overcome all of them?
  • How did he build the empire one by one? 

You will know everything about the world of Indiabulls real estate.

The Success Story of Sameer Gehlaut 

Indiabulls-Sameer-Gehlaut

Sameer was born in 1974 in Haryana, a city named Rohtak. After graduating from IIT Delhi, he took a job with an American oil service company Halliburton in 1995. But after just two years, he returned to India and joined his family business (a mining company). 

But destiny has other choices that he needs to fulfill. In 1999, he came across a wonderful opportunity Orbitech PVT LTD which was on sale for about ₹1Cr at that time. It was a security company based in Delhi. It has membership from the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Sameer did not wait long as he did not want to lose this opportunity that might change his life. He and his close friend Rajiv Ratan bought the company. They are going to set up a brokerage business with it.

They rented an office near Hauz Khas bus stand in Delhi and started their journey. The room they took was not in good condition as they could not afford a decent office. The roof of that office was made of Tin, and they only got two computers to begin with. You can imagine the situation they were in at that time.

Recommended Reading: DLF Success Story How Kushal Pal Singh Did it

The Lunch of Indiabulls Housing Finance 

They worked hard for a few months and made some progress in the business. They partnered with another friend in the process Sourav Mittal. They managed to establish India’s first internet brokerage service.

In 2000 they launched Indiabulls Financial Services officially and started to collect funds. They were aggressive while collecting funds for their business. They approached many investors, but most of them rejected them. But Laksmi Mittal did not. He funded them around ₹8Cr ($1M), which helped them shape the future of Indiabulls.

The Entry of Laksmi Mittal

Sameer and his friend hired an investment bank Avendus to help raise funds. Avendus’s co-founder Gourav Deepak approached Rishi Khosla, the fund manager of Laksmi Mittal. They got interested, and the negotiation begins over the telephone between Sameer Gehlaut and Aditya Mittal. 

After some negotiation for a few days finally, Sammer got the deal at $1 million. Mr. Mittals said their ideas were unique, and their performance was also good. Most importantly, they had confidence. That’s why we invested. It was Mr. Mittal’s first investment in India. That gave him unimaginable returns.

That single investment of $1 million gave him 100x return over the years, and he says it was one of the best investments we have ever encountered. That was Indiabull’s first Angel investment.

A New Beginning for Indiabulls Group

At the end of 2000, they established Indiabulls Securities, a subsidy company of Indiabulls Financial Services. Their primary goal was to expand the business offline. Within a year, they have established 75+ offices across the country providing brokerage services to the average Indian citizen. That is something that everyone desires.

In 2004 they launched their first ever IPO and raised some good money from the public that helped them launch more companies in the shadow of Indiabulls Group. They launched Indiabulls Home Loan services that year and focused on consumer loans. 

They were offering various financial services, but this Home Loan business might be the best thing they did that year. You can see it in the form of Dhani Personal Loans. They have launched more companies along the way as every venture they have launched brought them success (most of them).

A Masterstroke by Indiabulls Home Loan

A-Masterstroke-by-Indiabulls-Home-Loan.

In that process of their offline expansion goal, they have established their offices so close to each other that looks like they are targetting the same customer and competing with each other. Investors did not understand the game. What are these guys doing? They asked many questions but did not understand the whole game process.

But in 2004, when the company entered the loan business under Indiabulls Home Loan, investors got excited and cheered up. The effect was obvious. The share price hit an all-time high, and everyone was happy. 

With time Indiabulls got a strong grip on the loan market. They started to offer these loans also:

  • Home loans
  • Loan against securities
  • Personal loans
  • Business loans
  • Commercial loans
  • Vehicle loans
  • Mortgage loans

You name it. Indiabulls has started to offer every kind of loan in the country, and that was a master move as they have already established an offline showroom to target their customers. 

You can see that they did not wait for opportunities. They built it and become the king of the jungle. Today you can see Indiabulld is the top three loan service provider in the country, India after LIC and HDFC. That is a huge success.

More Success at Indiabulls Real Estate 

In 2005 they launched Indiabulls Real Estate by winning a government auction and started to build residential and commercial buildings across the country, from mid-income to luxury spaces. Today it is among India’s top Real Estate companies.

After that, the success keeps them hitting. They launched Indiabulls Power Limited in 2007 and Indiabulls Foundation in 2010 for health, education, sanitization, relief, and other social works. 

Over time they have started many famous companies, some are as follows:

  • Indiabulls Ventures
  • Indiabulls Store One
  • Indiabulls Consumer Finance
  • Indiabulls Mutual Fund
  • Indiabulls Pharmaceuticals
  • Indiabulls Infrastructure

All of them were performing really well. But in 2017, the co-founder got separated. Sameer resigned from two companies, Power and Infrastructure, and focused more on Indiabulls Real Estate. He invested an additional ₹538 Cr in it to increase his share from 27% to 37%. Because he knew what real estate could bring for him in the near future.

The Downfall Time of Sameer Gehlaut

Indiabulls-Housing-finance-share-price

After 2018 the company did not perform well. Their share price went from ₹1300 to ₹200 in just two years. They got huge loans but did not have any resources to pay their debts. That effect the share price, and then the company suffers heavy losses.

Not only that, but SEBI also banned the trading of Indiabulls shares for straight 24 hrs for some illegal practices. But thank God, SEBI opened it again. All these hit hard the company Indiabulls. Today the value of their share is just under ₹150.

But this company proved they can do it again and I think they will. Soon their share prices will get back where it was like a Turnover Company. You can see the share price is recovering slowly.

The New Achievements of Indiabulls

Indiabulls got many awards in the process. Some of them are as follows:

  • The fastest growing company
  • The best brand for employees
  • Best HFC of the year
  • Business super brand

Indeed it is a wonderful company. It will recover soon.

Last Words

The most important thing I have learned is that: 

  • When opportunity knocks on your door, don’t think much catch it as Sammer did by purchasing the security company Orbitech PVT LTD with just ₹1Cr.
  • When one business performing well enough, start a new one in a new industry. So you can diversify your empire well. 
  • Setbacks and downfalls are part of life. Don’t be afraid of it. Fight it.
  • First, plan accurately and then take action as Sammer Gehalut did while launching the Home Loan services.
  • Trust yourself. You can do it.

Please Note: All the stories and the data I have shared in this article might not be accurate. I have taken them from various sources online. But this story will give you an idea of the journey of Sammer and his company Indiabulls Real Estate. Thanks for reading, see you soon.

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