Bijay Agarwal, a self-made entrepreneur, faced challenging early years.
Goldman Sachs leased nine floors of a Hyderabad building for 117 months, with a monthly rent of Rs 4.14 crore. To secure the lease, the company deposited Rs 35.2 crore with Devbhumi Realtors Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Sattva Group. The Opel Block, located in Knowledge City, has 12 floors. Bijay Agarwal serves as the promoter and MD of Sattva Group.
Agarwal has been the MD of the business since 1993. According to a 2021 ICRA report, the Salarpuria-Sattva group developed more than 55.4 million sq ft of built-up area. In 2021, the company earned an impressive rental income of Rs 761 crore.
The company has been operating in Bengaluru for 34 years and has expanded its presence in Hyderabad in recent years. It earns a substantial rental income from properties leased in both cities. In 2020, the company’s annualized rental inflow amounted to Rs 857 crore.
Agarwal’s tenants include JPMC, Microsoft, Novartis, and Google.
GD Salarpuria founded the company, and Devbhumi Realtors Pvt. Ltd. (DRPL) serves as a special-purpose vehicle of the group.
In 2020, the company generated operating revenue of Rs 1730 crore, with a profit after tax of Rs 581.4 crore.
Bijay Agarwal, a first-generation entrepreneur, faced challenging formative years.
In an old interview with Your Story, he revealed that he never envisioned such success. His parents migrated to India from Bangladesh in 1965, and his father was a small businessman. He spent his childhood in Kisanganj, Bihar, and later moved to Raniganj, West Bengal, after completing Class 10. He initially assisted his brother-in-law at a novelty store.
The store taught him the importance of customer satisfaction.
In 1985, he relocated to Kolkata and started working for a finance corporation. He was tasked with taking over an unfinished construction project and became its in-charge. It took him 2.5 years to complete the project, where he gained comprehensive knowledge of the construction business.
He subsequently undertook various construction projects under the guidance of the late GD Salarpuria.
In 1993, they acquired property in Bengaluru and successfully completed the Money Chambers project. Since the early 2000s, the company witnessed substantial revenue growth due to investments from multinational companies in IT hubs.
They once finished an Intel project in just 67 days, beating the sanctioned timeframe of 90 days.
According to the 2021 Hurun List, Bijay Aggarwal’s net worth amounted to Rs 4170 crore.
