CHENNAI: The immediate family of US President Donald Trump is set to expand promotion of the Trump empire in India. According to The Washington Post, the President’s eldest son, Don Jr, might launch two new residential programmes in the next 15 days.
“(...) Don Jr is expected to launch two residential projects in India for the Trump Organization in the coming weeks,” a report on the newspaper’s website said. These two projects have caused a few murmurs because the Trump Organization has gone on record previously to say no new foreign deals would be signed while the President remains in office.
However, these two projects – coming up in Kolkata and Gurgaon – were inked before he stood for election. “(...) these two latest projects in India were inked before his election,” the newspaper quotes a source saying.
In an email statement that Trump Organisation sent to The Washington Post, they remain ‘extremely bullish on India’ even if the real-estate market isn’t that healthy at this point in time. “We are long term, extremely bullish on India,” the Trump Organization said. “The success of our existing projects and the strong inquiries that the teams are seeing from upcoming projects even before launch has been incredible. We are optimistic about the future and very proud of our existing presence in the market.”
The report also has details of the two projects. “The new Trump-branded tower in the eastern city of Kolkata will be priced at $765,000 and under; a project in the capital suburb of Gurgaon will feature apartments starting at $1.8 million and golf course access.” This is over and above the three existing projects. There is one in Mumbai, one in Pune and a proposed office in Gurgaon.
According to the report, the Mumbai tower is being built by the family company of Mangal Prabhat Lodha, a state legislator and state vice president of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party. Trump’s licensing arrangements in India have brought in between $1.6 million and $11 million in royalties since 2014 — including royalties stated in a range from $100,001 to $1 million last year from the Kolkata project, Trump’s financial filings show.