Bharat Serum & Vaccines' Daftary family buys two SOBO luxury apartments for Rs 101 crore | Economic Times

MUMBAI: In one of the most expensive residential transactions concluded this year, Bharat Serum & Vaccines’ Gautam Daftary has bought an entire floor with two large sea-view apartments in a nearly completed project on South Mumbai Carmichael Road for Rs 101 crore.The deal for both the apartments with a total 6,366 sq ft area is valued at nearly Rs 1.59 lakh per sq ft, a record price being paid for a house anywhere in the country this year. The transaction for the entire top floor with 8-bedrooms in will also be counted among the most expensive deals ever in terms of pricing.The transactions for both the apartments were registered on December 24. The apartments on the top floor of the 20-storey building have been bought in the name of Daftary’s sons Akshay and Karan. The stamp duty paid for both the transactions totalled Rs 2.02 crore, showed the registration documents accessed by ET.The super-premium Carmichael Residences, spread over half an acre, is coming up on Altamount Road-Carmichael Road, known for housing billionaires including Mukesh Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla.The luxury residential tower is being developed by RA Realty Ventures, formed by the Khemchand B Kothari Group and Ashok Piramal Group’s realty development company Peninsula Land.In July, Anurang Jain, managing director of auto component maker Endurance Technologies bought two apartments in the same tower for Rs 100 crore, the largest residential transaction of 2020 until now. The billionaire nephew of Bajaj Auto patriarch Rahul Bajaj purchased one more apartment in this luxury tower for Rs 39 crore in October.ET’s email query to Gautam Daftary’s office remained unanswered until the time of going to press. Khemchand B Kothari Group’s director Varun Kothari declined to comment for the story.Daftary is part of the promoter family of Bharat Serums & Vaccines and is a director on the board of the Mumbai-headquartered company, which has its subsidiaries across the USA, Germany and Philippines.It can be recalled that private equity major Advent International acquired a majority stake in Bharat Serums & Vaccines in 2019 at an enterprise valuation of $500 million from its promoters the Daftary Family, and existing investors Orbimed and Kotak Private Equity.For over four decades since its inception, the company is known for its biological, biotech and pharmaceutical products and works in the therapeutic areas of women’s health and critical care and assisted reproductive treatment.Several high-value transactions are being concluded in the luxury segment of the country’s most expensive property market of Mumbai owing to easing prices and lower stamp duty benefit. These deals are helping drive the volume in the luxury segment that had remained sluggish for almost four-five years.The government of Maharashtra has reduced stamp duty to 2% from 5% till December-end and 3% between January and March 2021 in a bid to encourage home sales.The stamp duty reduction not only helped convert pent-up demand in the mid-income and affordable segments but also prompted the conclusion of several large-ticket transactions in the city, and the trend is seen picking up further.While the registration data has been suggesting more traction in housing sales in suburban localities, these luxury deals in south- and south-central Mumbai are also taking the country’s most expensive property market to new highs.