Abhishek Lodha - Managing Director, Lodha Group
If building a strong brand is a mark of leadership, Abhishek Lodha has certainly won his stripes! Under the helm of this expert in strategy, design, project management, legal and brand communications, the Lodha Group has gone on to become a household name for both the elite and middle-class segments in India. The group is currently developing over 43 million sq ft of prime real estate, with over 35 projects in development across Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and London. Indeed, the year 2014 has been a unique one for Lodha, who has been in the news as India´s (especially Mumbai´s) ´Mr Popular´ for more than just one reason. Having recently completed Phase-1 of Palava City (250 acre of a planned 4,000-acre) project in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region - one of the largest ´planned city´ initiatives in the world - the company´s upcoming innovative projects include Trump Tower Mumbai and the World Towers. Along with Trump, Lodha has been collaborating with some of the world´s leading names in design and real estate including Casa, Greg Norman, Jade Jagger, Pei Cobb Freed and Philippe Stark.
What´s more, Lodha recently raised the bar with his successful international reach - the acquisition of MacDonald House, the former Canadian High Commission building in London and another premium site in prime Central London, taking the company´s combined investment in UK to over -400 million. And there seems to be no finish line. With offices in London, Dubai and Shanghai, and planned openings in the US and Singapore, he is on the road to establishing a substantial international presence for his company.
His calibre was evident right from the outset. Having completed his MS, Industrial and Systems Engineering (Supply Chain and Logistics), from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA, Lodha has been a recipient of multiple prestigious academic and other honours. Further, he held important posts while at the university such as president of the India Club of Georgia Tech from 1999-2000 and board member of the Georgia Tech chapter of Child Relief and You from 1998-2000. The 34 year-old, who hit the headlines after striking the costliest land deal of Rs 4,050 crore in Mumbai in 2010, has 12 years of experience in the field of management and construction, and has been associated with the Lodha Group for the past 10 years. Prior to this, he worked on advising Fortune 500 Companies on business strategy as a consultant with McKinsey & Company in Atlanta.
A believer in calculated risk, Lodha focuses on creating a process-oriented organisation to enable top professionals to steer decision-making within the group. As for competition, Lodha appears to have just one benchmark: Himself.