This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

Cyrus Poonawala Buys India's Costliest House At Rs 750 Crore

Birla's Rs 390 Crore Jatia-House Buy Dwarfed By Poonawala's 750 Crore Shell-Out For Lincoln House
INDIA - JANUARY 27: Cyrus Poonawala, chairman of the Serum institute of India, at campus, in Pune, India. Potrait (Photo by Yusuf Khan/The India Today Group/Getty Images)
The India Today Group via Getty Images
INDIA - JANUARY 27: Cyrus Poonawala, chairman of the Serum institute of India, at campus, in Pune, India. Potrait (Photo by Yusuf Khan/The India Today Group/Getty Images)

Vaccine billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla has bought a former maharaja's mansion in Mumbai from the U.S. government for around 7.5 billion rupees ($113 million), newspapers reported, making it the most expensive ever residential purchase in the country.

The seaside mansion was used as the U.S. consulate from 1957, and later renamed Lincoln House. It was put on the market four years ago, after the consulate was relocated to a purpose built compound in a newer business district.

Analysts said Poonawalla's move is the most expensive home purchase to date in India. Mumbai is already home to the most expensive private home in the world, Antilia, the purpose-built 27-floor home of India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani.

Poonawalla, one of India's richest men, told the Times of India newspaper that he secured the property after real estate groups were told there were limits on potential redevelopment plans for the heritage-listed house and seaside plot.

"We thought it was a good price given the location," son Adar Poonawalla, who ran negotiations, told the Hindustan Times.

It was not immediately possible to reach the Poonawalla family. DTZ, the agency that sold the property, also declined to comment.

Contact HuffPost India

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.