RBI acquires Metro Rail’s Nariman Point plot for ₹3,472 Cr

RBI acquires a 4.16-acre Nariman Point plot for ₹3,471.82 crore, reinforcing Mumbai's commercial core with significant buildable potential.

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has acquired the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation’s (MMRC) 4.16-acre plot in Nariman Point for 3,471.82 crore.

RBI acquires Metro Rail’s Nariman Point plot for ₹3,472 Cr

The metro rail body, implementing the construction, operation and maintenance of the 33.5-km Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ metro line, floated global bids for the plot in October 2024. It had appointed an international property consultant to draw in private players, and companies such as the Tata Group, Blackstone Group, Sumitomo Corporation, RMZ Group and Oberoi Realty had shown interest. However, all this came to nought, as the RBI demonstrated its willingness to go in for a government-to-government acquisition.

The global bid had a reserve price of ₹5,173 crore, but the RBI has been given a 90-year lease on the land for the far lesser sum of ₹3,471.82 crore. The land parcel’s sale was formally registered on September 5, as per documents sourced through CRE Matrix, a real estate data analytics firm. The RBI has been scouting for South Mumbai office premises with a minimum area of around 30,000 sq feet for the last four years.

Of the permitted buildable area of 1.6 million sq ft, 1,13,500 sq ft will have to be given to rehouse the structures that occupied the land prior to 2017. This includes political party offices, which were relocated to Ballard Estate to enable the work for the Vidhan Bhavan metro station to be carried out.

Part of MMRC’s proceeds from the deal will go towards repaying its debt to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), borrowed for the construction of the underground metro line. The 33.5-km long metro has been constructed at a revised cost of ₹37,276 crore, of which ₹21,280 crore or 57.09% was funded by JICA.

“The RBI’s ₹3,470-crore acquisition of the 4.16-acre Nariman Point plot is a watershed moment in India’s real estate landscape,” said Abhishek Kiran Gupta, CEO & Co-Founder, CRE Matrix. “With nearly 1.6 million sq ft of buildable potential—including 1,13,500 sq ft earmarked for rehabilitation—this government-to-government transaction not only reinforces Nariman Point’s standing as Mumbai’s commercial core but also sets a new benchmark for premium land consolidation. Such marquee deals, rare even in global markets, highlight the deep institutional confidence in Mumbai’s long-term value as the country’s financial nucleus.”