Coco chanel, iconic French fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand, had famously said: “Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.” Ask Vikas Oberoi what luxury means to him and he inadvertently channels Chanel’s core values: Understated elegance, no fuss, less crass, more class. “For me, luxury is about excellent finish, great craftsmanship, appreciation of minute details, history and legacy. Whether it is watches, a bottle of wine, clothes, shoes, travel, where you travel and where you stay—it could be anything. Money is necessary to buy luxury but one needs to have taste,” he says during a conversation with Forbes India. The property magnate is rounding off a busy week. He has just returned from a series of roadshows with investors around the world: Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Boston and London. Now, seated in his tastefully done-up office at the Westin in Mumbai, Oberoi, 44, shares a measured perspective on luxury.
“To me, it is very personal. It’s something one needs to grow up with–it cannot be acquired,” he says, inadvertently stinging nouveau-billionaires who pin their high-flying hopes on designer wear. “You can’t just write a cheque for something expensive and be connected to it. It has to blend into you.” You can see that he blends exceptionally well into the Tom Ford suit he has on. (He has 10 of them, all in different shades of grey.) But he doesn’t let you point that out—he is on a philosophical trajectory. Luxury sits very quietly in his closet, he says. “And unless probed very deeply, I don’t like to talk about it.”
Where Work and Life Meet
That may be true for his personal space. But its significance to his work is obvious. Luxury, and how it is defined, is of more relevance to Oberoi than to many other billionaires on the Forbes India Rich List. After all, it is the foundation on which he has built his business, Oberoi Realty. Listed in 2010, the company has built 36 projects, covering five million square feet, in suburban Mumbai, and with insignificant debt at that. Most of these developments, both commercial and residential, are in the upscale, premium segments.
Real estate analysts regard Oberoi’s projects responsible for the transition of Goregaon from a sleepy Mumbai suburb into a real estate hotspot where apartments are being bought and sold for the equivalent of millions of dollars. A decade ago, this was inconceivable. The area was considered beyond city limits. Film crew would trek across for shoots; and the government staff would source milk from dairies at Aarey colony. Now, the place is alive with the clatter of construction activity since other developers have inevitably jumped into the fray. “Goregaon East has gentrified and boasts of malls, schools, housing and offices. The appreciation in residential real estate prices is astounding. Rates have gone up from Rs 9,000 a square foot to Rs 15,000 in just five years,” says a real estate analyst.
Oberoi Garden City at Goregaon is what builders call an integrated development plan. The luxury residential projects and commercial property are supported by a five-star hotel, the Westin, the Oberoi mall on the Western Express Highway, and an international school. The social infrastructure has helped people get comfortable about travel and, hence, living in the locality. “We had to create oases for our customers,” says Oberoi. “Places where they could pamper themselves.” Once these were available, they were happy to move in.
Oberoi describes himself as a major filter for his team—they freely pitch their ideas to him. These could be about an open kitchen plan in the apartments or a design tweak to the windows. The challenge is to create spaces that will appeal to customers and this involves trial and error, he says. The specifications of the ‘oases’ emerge from his insights into the thought process of the high-end customer. “Design is a part of what he is—and it is obviously also an important part of his profession,” says wife Gayatri.
In the Third Dimension
(This story appears in the 18 October, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Is it a journalistic exercise or an advertorial? Come on folks, spare a thought for people who are paying for this magazine!
on Oct 15, 2013