Lodhas to transfer stake worth Rs 20k cr in Macrotech to philanthropic firm

Real estate tycoon Abhishek Lodha and family on Monday pledged to transfer shares worth around Rs 20,000 crore in their listed entity Macrotech Developers to the group's philanthropic initiative, taking a leaf out of the Tatas.

Macrotech Developers Ltd (MDL) is one of the leading real estate developers in the country, selling properties under the Lodha brand. It currently has a market capitalisation of over Rs 1.10 lakh crore. The promoters own a 72.11 per cent stake in it.

As part of their initiative, Abhishek Lodha and family will transfer about 18-19 per cent stake in Macrotech Developers to Lodha Philanthropy Foundation (LPF), a non-profit organisation that uses all its income and assets solely for national and social causes.

"We will soon be transferring shares worth Rs 20,000 crore of MDL to the foundation. An advisory board will be set up in January next year to manage the social initiatives," MDL MD and CEO Abhishek Lodha told PTI.

LPF will carry out various social initiatives such as programmes in education, women's empowerment, and sustainable urbanisation, through the dividend income generated from these shares.

Under the new arrangement, "LPF will have an initial corpus of around Rs 20,000 crore (USD 2.5 billion)".

On the family's decision to allocate a significant portion of their wealth to national and social causes, Lodha said, "About 100 years ago, the Tata family gave a major part of their shareholding in their enterprise to the Tata Trusts. The huge impact of this gift on India and the good work by the Tata Trusts has been a major inspiration for me".

Started in 2013, LFP runs various programmes, mostly in the social sector, including 'Lodha Unnati', which focuses on increasing female participation in India's workforce by working with corporates in India.

It also supports the 'Institute of Applied Mathematics (IAM)', which focuses on encouraging top mathematical minds of Indian and non-Indian origin to do high-quality research.

Under the 'Lodha Genius Programme', the foundation also provides financial, mentoring, infrastructure, and advanced learning to meritorious children across India. It also provides scholarships to meritorious Indian students for further studies at the top global institutions for their undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

As part of its sustainable initiative, the foundation has tied up with Rocky Mountain Institute, USA (RMI) to achieve net zero in the real estate and infrastructure sectors.

Macrotech Developers, erstwhile Lodha Developers, has delivered around 100 million square feet of real estate and is developing more than 110 million square feet under its ongoing and planned portfolio.