Just one more toy, please

Despite the meltdown of their fortunes, our billionaires' love for gizmos and gadgets hasn't waned, finds Priyanka Joshi.

What can be the buying power of Rs 100 crore? Any guesses? In material terms, in money-can-buy-me-all-that-I-want mode, the answer is obviously the power to purchase big things, almost anything that your heart desires. But more than just that it’s also the power that separates a handful of men from a billion others. Be honest. Who wouldn’t envy the endless rounds of champagne, the latest luxury cars, the wardrobes full of Valentino and Armani, and kitchens stocked with Beluga caviar and Knipschildt chocolates? It is just the top 10 per cent of India’s population that owns between 33 to 50 per cent of the country’s wealth - and look at what it’s buying up.

In Bollywood, actor Amitabh Bachchan has crores stashed away in assets, yet, he still paints a modest picture when he confesses to treasuring his Apple iPhone, a gift from filmmaker Ravi Chopra after the completion of the film Bhoothnath. At an earlier interview he had confessed, “I don’t need all the gadgets but it’s satisfying to know that I can afford them.”

Shah Rukh Khan, on the other hand, is a self-confessed afficionado of the latest gadgets and gizmos. He is known to have stacks of the latest gaming titles and consoles. He even has a retro juke-box with super sound fittings at his sprawling south Mumbai mansion. Khan videoconferences regularly with his clients and has also installed a server provided by Hewlett-Packard for his company Red Chillies. “If he is not buying toys for his children, he’s buying gizmos for himself,” informs a team member of Khan’s production house.

The Nokia brand ambassador was last seen at the premiere of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi flaunting his Nokia communicator. But Khan’s choice of handset looks like a discounted device when compared with what liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s flaunts - a red Vertu Ascent Ti mobile phone worth Rs 3,26,000.

The 52-year-old chairman of the UB Group is known for his epic bashes aboard his 311-foot yacht, the Indian Empress, usually anchored off the French Riviera. One of his close friends in Mumbai tells us that he is probably not even conscious of his “growing amount of collections of over 45 villas and island homes scattered across the world, nearly 250 vintage cars, a customised Boeing 727, two corporate jets and three yachts, including the Kalizma, a 165-footer once owned by actor Richard Burton”.

But not every billionaire gets his wealth on a silver platter. Take Rohtas Goel, for instance. From being just another civil engineer in a construction house to creating a renowned real estate brand, Goel, CMD of Omaxe, whose wealth went over Rs 850 crore last year, has certainly come a long way. Goel’s first brush with technology was a humble Maruti 800 worth Rs 1.5 lakh but today this brick magnate has obviously outgrown his Maruti car.

He now drives a ritzy BMW 5-series equipped with Night Vision technology, where infrared sensors use thermal imaging to locate animals, people and objects in the vehicle’s path before the driver can see them in the headlights. And though he doesn’t own a Vertu yet, he’s happy flaunting his Blackberry Pearl.

Surprisingly, Indian billionaires - a growing list - are rather diffident about flaunting their assets, leave alone gadgets. Mumbai billionaires like Dilip Shanghvi, Uday Kotak, Chandru Raheja, Venugopal Dhoot, Subhash Chandra, Rajan Raheja, Niranjan Hiranandani, Hemant Shah, Gracias Saldanha and Anand Jain might be not visible at the usual Page 3 dos but once the sun goes down, you can hope to catch some of them in their Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches and Maseratis that run feral on Mumbai roads.

A staff member at Navnit Motors, which has one of India’s two Rolls-Royce dealerships, tells us that hidden beneath the billionaire mansions are the most swanky garages that hold as many luxury cars as anywhere in the world. We wouldn’t doubt it. Especially because the billionaire club customise their Bentleys and Ferraris.

What are the features? Bluetooth compatibility between the car and mobile devices, full iPod integration, reverse camera display, keyless entry and engine start, an automatic boot that opens and closes with immense ease are just some that the exclusive billionaire club members adopt for their sedans. Whether it’s King Khan or Malvinder Singh, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Atul Kirloskar, billionaires like these are always customising their Porsches and Rolls-Royces. Others like Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, build state-of-the-art private garages to look after their automotive beauties.

But then there are others like Aditya Mittal, the son of Lakshmi Mittal, the world’s richest Indian, who recently admitted in an interview to GQ India that he’s always held back his need to splurge so as not to appear flashy. “I’ve never bought a red Ferrari,” Mittal Jr rues. “And I’ve wanted one since I was 11.” But his father hasn’t felt the need to hold back. Lakshmi Mittal defied the common belief that tight-fisted titans eschewed private aircraft as an unnecessary frivolity. He owns two top-of-the-line jets, the Bombardier Global Express and Gulfstream GV.

It’s not just Mittal; the club of high-fliers is getting crowded. Mallya with his Airbus corporate jet, Mukesh Ambani with his fleet of jets including a Bombardier Global Express, Falcon 900EX and an Airbus corporate jet, followed closely by Anil Ambani’s Falcon 2000, Bombardier Global Express, Falcon 7X, the list goes on.

Little wonder then that from the sleek Very Light Jets (VLJ) worth around $5 million to the $50 million Gulfstream, a smorgasbord of business jets, helicopters and turboprop aircraft fitted with boardroom-like interiors and plush seating are now towed away in many private hangers. KP Singh of DLF flies smart in his own jet just like Ratan Tata, Gautam Singhania, Tulsi Tanti, Sun TV’s Maran family and Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge.

Now, how about graduating to a Boeing 747-8 or an Airbus A380? These “personal use” airline jets are ultra luxury and come at an asking price of $280-$300 million only! Super luxury options are endless and can include mahogany panelling, gold-plated fixtures, jacuzzis or perhaps a movie theatre. These options would add another $20 million at the very least.

What’s a billionaire to do when the thrill of the private jet wanes? Head for the open sea. Sunny Dewan Wadhawan, managing director of Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), who got himself a Ferretti for Rs 527 million last year, shopped intelligently. The intelligent Ferretti 630 yacht has built-in technology that can help HDIL’s MD from getting sea-sick.

When the sea gets violent, the gyroscope (built in the Ferretti yacht) spins against the lean and helps keep the boat on an even keel. The three-cabin yacht also comes equipped with a massage lounge and a sun lounge. Although one might see Wadhawan usually photographed along with his Ferrari F430 Modena, his underground car park at the neo-classical Wadhawan Mansion in Mumbai’s Pali Hill also speaks a lot about his love for luxury cars.

No wonder the luxury car market in India is booming even now. Loosely defined as cars priced above Rs 2 million ($64,500), this segment clocked sales of 3,500 units in 2007 and grew nearly 80 per cent to 6,200 units in 2008, according to JD Power & Associates.

Gone are the days when the Tatas and the Godrejs, deemed as Mumbai’s “old money”, preferred enjoying their wealth in private. Even they are starting to flash a little more cash. Adi Godrej has bought himself a Ferretti 880. A large sundeck, jacuzzi tub, portable bar, sofa with table, control station on the port side and sofa with chaise lounge starboard, at the centre of which there is a coffee table, makes the Ferretti 880 a beautiful yacht. Joining this brigade is Lakshmi Mittal’s younger brother, Pramod, and the likes of Tina Ambani, Anil Ambani’s wife, who was gifted one of the Italian yachts on her birthday by her husband.

Then there are watches. Private vintage Rolex sports watches are very rare, like the Paul Newman Steel Daytona (40 years old), Double Red Sea Dweller (30 years old) and Indian connoisseurs know their style well. Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV, Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge, Gautam Singhania of Raymond, Deepak Puri of Moserbaer, among others, are known for their love for these timepieces. A mint condition vintage Rolex sports piece with original papers can set you back over £100,000 for a watch that sold for £200 over 40 years ago.

From cars and yachts to boardroom technologies, what more could our billionaires want? Plenty. Goel of Omaxe is awed by his latest videoconferencing device. The Creative’s inPerson device, which has been in development for four years, is an Ethernet-enabled high resolution videophone. Priced at $700, the portable video conferencing device can connect Goel with a client meeting in Mumbai, a one-on-one in Singapore, and his child’s birthday party in Gurgaon, all while he might be stuck at the airport in some other part of the country.

An economy that grew at about 9 per cent in the last three years and a six-year bull run on the stock market minted new billionaires in Asia’s third-largest economy. But this rich class that splurged on luxury cars, yachts and sprawling vacation homes in the past knows very well that it is in for tougher times in 2009.

The billionaire club has played the game of conspicuous consumption for long and saved too for the proverbial rainy day. Maybe it’s time to cash in those savings today.