Aamby Valley City is a township developed by the

Sahara India Pariwar Sahara India Pariwar (''pariwar'' being Hindi for "family") is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The group operates business sectors such as finance, infrastructure & housing, real estate, sports, power, ma ...

on the outskirts of Pune, India.

Construction and connectivity

The city, founded in 2006, is spread over of hilly terrain in the ''Sahyadri hills'' of the Western Ghats. It is about from

Lonavala Lonavala (ISO 15919, ISO: Loṇāvaḷā) is a hill station town and a Municipal Council in the Pune district, Maharashtra, India. It is about west of Pune and to the east of Mumbai. It is known for its production of the hard candy ''chikki'' a ...

, from the city of

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

and from the city

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. The township is connected by road from

Mahabaleshwar Mahabaleshwar () is a small town and a municipal council in Satara district, Maharashtra, India. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus because Krishna river has its origin here. The British colonial rulers developed the town as a hill station ...

. The township has an airstrip that stopped functioning in late 2016. It has an average annual rainfall of from June to September. Marketed to India's super-rich, the city was developed in five phases. It was designed and master planned by GruenBobby Mukherji & Associates in the year 2003. It is almost entirely owned and operated by Sahara and related entities. It has between 600800 luxury bungalows priced between 5 crore to 20 crore. Three large man made lakes have been created by constructing dams. The largest lake is 1.5 km in length. The city is spread over 10,000 acres and ten villages near Lonavala and boasts of an airstrip, helipads, shopping complexes, 256 acres PGA approved 18-hole golf course, captive power plant, two small dams, an international school, and a hospital. The township has multiple luxury restaurants and a lagoon with an artificial beach adjacent to the replica of Varanasi ghat for cultural programs. In late 2016, the golf course and the airstrip stopped functioning.

Financial troubles

Since its founding the city has faced variety of financial and legal troubles for having received investments of 62,643 crore from deposits collected by four Sahara cooperative societies allegedly in violation of norms. Per Sahara group, the Aamby Valley project was valued at about 1 trillion ($14.76 billion) in 2014, citing a Knight Frank India report. This high valuation claimed by Sahara was in contrast with the weakened financial profile of the project. According to

Securities and Exchange Board of India The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulatory body for securities and commodity market in India under the ownership of Ministry of Finance within the Government of India. It was established on 12 April 1988 as an executive ...

, Aamby Valley posted an after-tax profit of 90 million in the 12 months ended March 2013 compared to 694 million in the July 2011-March 2012 period. In 2018-19, the Aamby Valley project made a consolidated loss of 994 crore compared to a loss of 1,133 crore in the previous year. Its total income came down to 958 crore in 2018-19 from 1,530 crore a year ago. In 2016, the

Tehsildar In India and Pakistan, a Tehsildar or Mamlatdar is a tax officer accompanied by revenue inspectors. They are in charge of obtaining taxes from a tehsil with regard to land revenue. A tehsildar is also known as an executive magistrate of the relev ...

Mulshi Mulshi is a village and an administrative block in Pune district. There is also an informal bus stop with access to Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial a ...

, a local revenue authority, sealed the gated township for non-payment of taxes. It was reopened the same day after Sahara group made a payment of 2.53 crore.

Sales proceedings

In April 2017, the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

ordered the auction of Aamby Valley project to recoup 14,000 crore the company owes to duped investors. The court set a seemingly high reserve price of 37,000 crore, which led to limited interest and only two bids and no buyers in the end. In July 2018, after failing to attract prospective buyers, the supreme court deferred the auction and allowed to city to be under control of the Sahara Parivar. In 2019, the court decided to continue with the auction. In January 2020, the supreme court appointed a receiver to manage Aamby Valley and to explore a new auction.

Sponsorship

In 2014, Aamby Valley inked a 4-year $14 million sponsorship deal with

Bangladesh national cricket team The Bangladesh men's national cricket team ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় ক্রিকেট দল), popularly known as The Tigers, is administered by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). It is a Full Member of the Inte ...

. Without citing any reasons, the

Bangladesh Cricket Board The Bangladesh Cricket board ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ক্রিকেট বোর্ড; abbreviated as BCB) is the governing body of cricket in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Cricket Board first became an associate member of the Inter ...

ended the contract 15 months before it was scheduled to end.

References

External links