Enemy properties: Most Pakistani assets in UP, Chinese in Meghalaya

The government is moving to monetise over 12,000 such properties across the country

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Home Affairs began the process of selling 12,611 enemy properties belonging to Pakistani and Chinese nationals. According to some media reports these properties are worth Rs 1 trillion.

The majority of these properties are located in a handful of states, shows an analysis of data compiled from Parliament responses and found on the Custodian of Enemy Property website. The Custodian of Enemy Property comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The government set up the custodian to administer enemy property conflicts with China and Pakistan in 1962 and 1965, respectively. The custodian has its headquarters in Delhi. It also has branch offices in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Lucknow.

The largest number of such enemy properties are in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The state has 6,255 properties that are said to belong to enemy nationals or firms. The second is West Bengal. It has 4,088 properties. There are at least 21 other states and union territories in which varying numbers of such assets are located (chart 1).

A split between Chinese and Pakistani properties available on the custodian's website has numbers, which are different from those shared in Parliament. However, the share of properties statewise gives a sense of which places dominate such seized assets from each country. Uttar Pradesh accounted for 59.1 per cent of Pakistani properties (chart 2).

Properties belonging to Chinese nationals were located in Meghalaya (46.6 per cent), West Bengal (39.7 per cent) and Assam (11.5 per cent), among others. There are also some in Delhi, Karnataka, and Maharashtra (chart 3).

The Ministry of Home Affairs' annual report for 2021-22 noted that the custodian "has realised a total of Rs 3407.98 crore from the disposal of enemy properties which includes 75,283,287 shares (for Rs 2708.90 crore) of 152 companies in 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 & 2021-22 and Rs 699.08 crore as revenue receipts."

It added that "1699.79 grams of vested gold has been sold for Rs 49,14,071 and 28.896 kilogrammes of silver ornaments have been disposed of for Rs 10,92,175 in January 2021 through the Government of India Mint, Mumbai as per provisions of the Act, totaling Rs 60.06 lakhs."

The custodian website added that the list of immovable properties is tentative and is subject to revisions.