MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has snapped up a prime land parcel in the tony business district of Nariman Point from the Mumbai Metro Corporation for Rs 3,472 crore, where the monetary authority wants to build a modern office complex to consolidate its numerous offices operating from rented premises in the megapolis.
The land parcel measuring 4.2 acres is located in the Nariman Point area, which is the country’s first central business district built in the late 70s and early 80s mostly on the reclaimed land, and is opposite the headquarters of the Mantralaya or the state secretariat. At Rs 3,472 crore, this is one of the largest institutional land deals in city on record and will may lead to the revival of the commercial value of Nariman Point real estate, which has been ebbing for long.
The plot also had historic significance too as for decades it had housed the headquarters of the Congress state unit, as well as that of the Shiv Sena and the NCP. When the city’s first metro line was to planned—the 33km fully underground line connecting Colaba in the extreme south to the Aarey Colony in the north, these offices were vacated to make space for building the Vihdhan Bhavan metro station.
Once completed the office complex is completed, the RBI will consolidate its operations in a new state-of-the-art facility.
The monetary authority earlier was keen to buy the former headquarters of Air India, but the government did not give the go-ahead. The 22-storey tower facing the Queens Necklace (the seafront in Nariman Point is also known thus) was later snapped up by the state government.
According to market players, the price of Rs 3,472 crore that the RBI paid for is around 50% higher than the prevailing market rate in Nariman Point.
For the Metro Corporation, the revenue windfall from the monetary authority will help it fund the ongoing Metro Line 3 works and repaying loans, including those drawn down from the Japanese funding agency JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency).
The Reserve Bank, which has been expanding its departments of late will build a new office complex on the plot.
“The sale deed was executed on September 5, sealing one of the city’s largest institutional land deals in recent times,” according to a statement from Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRCL).
The agreement also carried a stamp duty payment of Rs ₹208 crore, according to property transaction data from real estate data analytics firm CRE Matrix.
The prices translates into over Rs 834 crore per acre, and the deal sets a new benchmark for institutional land acquisitions in south Mumbai. Stated differently, the money that the RBI paid works out to nearly Rs 2.06 lakh per sqm or Rs 19,100 per sqft, which is roughly 50% higher than prevailing market rates in Nariman Point, according to this data firm.
The land parcel, measuring 16,832 square metres, provides a buildable area of 16 lakh sqft, of which 1.13 lakh sqft is reserved for rehabilitation. It’s among the last large plots available for development in Nariman Point, which was the prime business hub that has been at the centre of Mumbai’s commercial activity since the 1970s, but has of late lost its sheen to newer CBDs in the BKC and Lower Parel areas.
The MMRCL had first floated bids in October 2024 for a long-term lease of the land and was reportedly eyeing over Rs 5,000 crore from the auction. Prominent realty players like Blackstone, Oberoi Realty, RMZ Group, and Tata Group had reportedly shown interest in the plot but did not go through and then the auctioning process was cancelled in January 2025 when the RBI showed interest in purchasing the property outright and then the tender was revoked.
In 2023, the Wadia Group entity Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Company had sold its 22-acre land parcel in Worli to Goisu Realty, a subsidiary of Japanese developer Sumitomo for Rs 5,200 crore, making it the largest deal.
For RBI, the purchase represents a significant expansion of its real estate footprint in Mumbai, where it headquartered—the 25-storey towed on the Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg by the tony Horniman Circle area in south Mumbai adjoin the British ear first headquarters of the RBI and the Government Mint, and dozens of offices and residential buildings across the megapolis.