Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani: From Early Setbacks to Real Estate Titan
In a recent conversation with Kamya Jani on Curly Tales, Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani recalled a moment that left a deep mark on him. “On August 1, 2024, I got a call from Mr Ratan Tata, a friend who is no more. He asked me, ‘Niranjan, would you become a trustee with me on a new trust I’m creating, the Tata Parkinson Trust?’ What could I say? He had faith in me, and I became a co-trustee on that trust,” he said. The call came a little over two months before Tata’s death on 9 October 2024. Hiranandani described the request as one he could never refuse, given the respect and trust between the two.
Before becoming a household name in real estate, Hiranandani tried his hand at different professions. He started as a teacher and later attempted to run a textile mill, which failed. These early years, he admitted, were filled with setbacks. “Bad times have come many times,” he said. “When something succeeded, people would say you were lucky, the city grew, you bought the place at the right time, this happened, and that happened. But success doesn’t come by chance.”
After his first success, Hiranandani decided to push further. One of his boldest steps was launching Hiranandani Estate in Thane, an area developers were avoiding at the time. “We went for the next project, Hiranandani Estate in Thane, in a location where no builder was willing to work. We made the project equally successful. The point is: such projects can succeed repeatedly, and we’ll continue to do so,” he explained. Today, the Hiranandani name is closely tied to integrated townships and urban infrastructure in Mumbai and across India.
Even as he leads his own ventures, Hiranandani acknowledges the work of peers. During a visit to Gurugram, he praised DLF’s luxury development, the Camellias, for setting new standards in premium living. He called it a benchmark project that reflects where Indian real estate is heading. Born in Mumbai on 8 March 1950, Niranjan Hiranandani studied at Campion School before earning a commerce degree from Sydenham College. He went on to qualify as a chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
His father, Dr. Lakhumal Hiranand Hiranandani, was a distinguished ENT surgeon and a Padma Bhushan recipient. Carrying that legacy of commitment, Niranjan built his own path in real estate, becoming one of the wealthiest developers in the country. As of June 2021, Forbes ranked him among India’s 100 richest, with a net worth of $1.6 billion.
