Unitech Group

Unitech Limited was India's second largest real estate investment company,[3] and once claimed to be the largest real estate builder in the country.[4][5]

Unitech Group
TypePublic
IndustryReal estate
Founded1972
FounderRamesh Chandra
Headquarters
New Delhi
,
India
Key people
Ramesh Chandra, Executive chairman
Revenue$760 million (2008)[1]
$300 million (2008)[1]
Total assets$3.03 billion (2008)[1]
Number of employees
1,472 (2011)[2]
Websiteunitechgroup.com

The company is based in New Delhi[3] and ranks 1484, in Forbes Global 2000 listing of the top 2000 public companies in the world by Forbes magazine, 32nd in India.[1] Its construction business includes highways, roads, powerhouses, transmission lines, and it has residential projects called Unitech Cities/Uni World, in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata , Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad,Mohali, Bangalore, Kochi, Noida,Greater Noida, Agra, Lucknow, Varanasi,Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad.[6]

Past Join Ventures: LG - Unitech Hyundai - Unitech Singapore Consortium - Unitech Carlson (Radission) - Unitech

History

Founded by 5 partners, Ramesh Chandra, Dr. S. P. Shrivastava, Dr. P K Mohanti, Dr. Ramesh Kapur and Dr. Bahri originally formed as United Technical Consultant Private Ltd in 1972 as a soil investigation company.[7] They later moved into civil engineering contracts in 1974.[8] The company began to enter into real estate in 1986.,[7] and started to increase focus on real estate in 2000. Few year back, it was India's second-largest listed real estate firm.

Unitech had formed a large joint venture with Norway-based Telenor Group to create Unitech Wireless Ltd.,[9] in August 2009, it secured a 50 billion rupee ($1 billion) loan from State Bank of India (SBI.BO) to fund its mobile phone network rollout.[10]

In 2011, due to the 2G-spectrum controversy (explained below), the company got involved in a public spat due to which its Chairman Sanjay Chandra al while on bail[11] over Telenor's pressure to do so, followed by news of Unitech's settlement of issues by agreeing to sell its entire stake in the Unitech Wireless to shift the business to a new entity owned by the former almost 1 year later[12] and then Telenor shifted the erstwhile United Wireless' entire assets into a newly formed holding company as its majority-owned subsidiary Telewings Communications Services Pvt. Ltd., another joint-venture which 26% stake was owned by an investment firm named Lakshdeep Investments & Finance Pvt. Ltd. and rest of the 74% owned by Telenor directly, thus sealing the end of Unitech's presence into telecommunications so far, only after 15 days since last development.[13]

Main article: 2G spectrum case

Unitech Wireless is one of the accused in the 2G spectrum case.[14] It is alleged that they were able to attain 2G licenses by bribing officials in the Indian Government even though they didn't have any previous telecom experience. As a fallout of this they had a total of 22 licenses cancelled by virtue of a court order,[15] and their Managing Director Sanjay Chandra sent to jail.[16]

In March 2017, Sanjay Chandra, who had been out on bail in the 2G case, and brother Ajay were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police for allegedly duping home-buyers in a Gurugram project. Till date both are in jail. On October 21, 2019, The Noida Authority has cancelled the allotment of a group housing property to crisis-hit realtor Unitech over non-payment of dues worth Rs 1,203 crore.[17] In December 2019, the apex court has asked the central government to take over the management of the company, Keeping in mind the interests of about 30 thousand home buyers. The court has also directed the government to investigate the matter from various agencies including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after Unitech and its directors revealed that thousands of crores of flat buyers had been diverted by the forensic report.The court has also flatly refused to grant bail to Unitech directors Chandra brothers, the apex court has asked the government to appoint the current directors of Unitech as independent directors.[18]

References
  1. Special Report:Forbes Global 2000 Forbes, The Global 2000. 04.02.08
  2. Company Profile For Unitech Ltd: Unitech Ltd (UNTE.BO) (Bombay Stock Exchange) Reuters.
  3. The New Mantra for Reality sector The Economic Times.
  4. "Three new schemes for Indian property investment developer". Offplanpropertyexchange.com. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  5. "India Unitech Wireless gets $1 bln loan from SBI". Reuters. 18 August 2009.
  6. Unitech Group Profile India's Business Directory.
  7. Unitech supremo: A reluctant tycoon The Economic Times, 26 Jan 2008.
  8. "Unitech: Building on a diversified strategy". Financial Express. Entered into Civil Engineering Projects into Libya in 1978, 20 August 2001.
  9. Cyber India Online Ltd. "Money Matters". Voicendata.ciol.com. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  10. "India Unitech Wireless gets $1 bln loan from SBI". Reuters. 18 August 2009. Unitech Ltd (UNTE.BO), India's second-largest listed real estate firm..."
  11. "Sanjay Chandra quits as Uninor chairman: Sources". NDTV Profit. 26 November 2011. Sanjay Chandra, who is in judicial custody for alleged involvement...
  12. "Unitech settles disputes with Telenor, to sell stake in Uninor". IBNLive. 11 October 2012. Realty firm Unitech on Thursday said it has amicably settled...
  13. "Telenor signs Lakshdeep as its new partner". The Hindu. 26 October 2012. After ending its telecom joint venture Uninor with Unitech, Norway’s Telenor...
  14. "What is 2G scam?". NDTV. 5 May 2011.
  15. "Cancellation of 2G licenses". The Hindu. 2 February 2012.
  16. "Accused in 2G Scam". NDTV. 22 October 2011.
  17. Mishra, Sunita. "The Story Of Unitech Empire: Rise And Fall". www.proptiger.com. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  18. "SC orders government to take over Unitech management". News Track. 22 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
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