It is a misnomer. Do they really develop land ? Or does land develop them ? You will see such "Land developer" / "Real estate developer" offices mushroomed in all parts of city It is the only business that people want to get in to double, quadrapule their money. The boom that started since 2005 in Nagpur had everyone rushing in to share a piece of cake. The boom continued and prices rose unabatedly. Until the recession. There has been a reduced demand in Nagpur now. But have the prices corrected ? Well, far from it. While the prices have reduced by 30-40 percent in tier I cities, Nagpur has not seen any correction. May be this is the Tier II effect! A recent report said that current prices in Mumbai were comparable to those existing in Nagpur. Unfortunately thats the only thing about Nagpur that can be compared with Mumbai. Politicians, are you listening??
Speaking about land developers, Mr Pramod Agrawal of Mahadeo Land Developers is in news again. This time for all the wrong reasons. He promised people to double their money in 2.5 years by investing in land. 4x in five years. And 16x in ten years. (You do the math now for next term!) Things went smooth for some time. He ran ads in newspapers and made sure he reached all those who would be fascinated by such returns. While there were smart people, the not so smart ones fell for it. People invested all their life savings in his 'scheme'. And then the unfortunate happened. Pramod Agarwal defaulted on paying monthly installments that he used to pay to his investors. Suddenly, he was not to be seen in his office or home. He did not turn up at few investor meets and that made people anxious. And now he has shifted from his original residence. Things have completely gone out of hand with angry investors demanding their money back. Anti social elements have spread rumours and Pramod Agrawal has complained to police about getting life threats. Its the investors who have suffered the most with them making beeline at his office, hoping to get their life savings back .
An estimate says that Pramod Agrawal has done over 300 crores of business in Nagpur. Thats some amount!! Rumours are being spread that he may flee from the country anytime. Police have swung into action but have not been able to trace him. All the airports have been alerted. We wonder if 300 crores of Nagpurian money has already vanished from India!
