DLF patriarch has a grand plan for his successors

The man who built up Gurgaon from scratch says it’s up to two women to fulfil his unfinished plans. Kushal Pal Singh, the founder of India’s biggest realty firm, is confident that his young grand-daughters Savitri Devi Singh and Anushka have the grit and aptitude to take the empire forward.

The duo, in their twenties, are daughters of Rajiv Singh who is currently the vice-chairman of DLF. The elder one, Savitri, is the business head of the company’s mall division while Anushka takes care of DLF Phase V Homes. In an exclusive conversation with ET, Mr Singh says the very nature of DLF’s future projects make the sisters his ideal successors.

For one, the company is in the process of aligning its goals with the government’s new focus on the common man and affordable housing. The Phase V plan involves hotels, convention centres and things related to art and culture.


Mr Singh says Savitri, Savu as he calls her, is looking at the lessons from previous developments to improve this phase of realty development. “And her attitude tells me that she will help in creating this with her dad in a world-class facility that no one would have, and this should become the finest development anywhere in the world,” he says.



So just what do the sisters, both proud Wharton School alumni, have to say about grandpa’s plan for their future? “I joined instantly after my graduation. It’s been a little over two years now,” says Savitri. She is involved in projects from conceptualisation to final execution, says a senior executive. “Just the other day, I called up for her and was told she stays in office till 10-11 pm. She is a workaholic and highly efficient,” says her proud grandfather.

The younger one, Anushka, who KP Singh says “is sharp to the core” is responsible for noting and fixing whatever is “not right” in DLF’s buildings. Anushka, a senior management trainee who joined the business last year, is more modest about her role. “I am learning the ground work for residential projects,” she says.

Besides son Rajiv, Mr Singh has two daughters. While older daughter Renuka Talwar has a son who is studying in Canada, younger daughter Pia has two children.

KP Singh trusts his instinct when he says DLF Phase V is a dream he would like seeing “fulfilled through the eyes of my granddaughters thanks to the vision of my son Rajiv. For me this success story has been my dream and my passion.”

For a doting grandfather, nothing more could be a more emotionally honest parting shot: “Take it from me, they will drive the business much faster than their father. And much faster than I could ever drive. God willing, I hope I am alive at that time and it would give me the greatest happiness to see my dream for them come true,” he says.