Trump’s real estate partners to attend his inauguration; ‘more deals soon’

NEW DELHI: President-elect Donald Trump’s real estate business partners in India will attend his inauguration on Monday. They include Kalpesh Mehta, founder of Tribeca Developers which is co-developing 10 Trump Towers in India, and Pankaj Bansal, director of M3M developing Trump Tower in Gurgaon. “Had a great day discussing the new Trump India projects with Eric Trump at the stunning Mar-a-Lago club. Deal announcements coming soon!” Mehta said on SM earlier this week.

“First time I met Donald Trump Jr in 2017 for the signing up of Trump Towers Delhi NCR. What a fantastic growth story it has been since then. Both the brands have grown strength to strength! Excited to meet again in Washington DC,” Bansal said on SM Saturday.

From India, Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar will attend the inauguration. So will Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Foundation founder Nita Ambani.

India is a key country for President Trump’s real estate business. Outside of the US, India is likely to get the maximum number of Trump Towers. From four all-residential high-rise luxury residential Trump Towers in Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon and Kolkata, the number will swell to 10 in next 5-6 years with as many more projects — including office, golf course and villas — going to be built in Noida, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Pune.

“I did my MBA from Wharton, where the Temp family, including President Trump, went to. A professor there connected me to Donald Trump junior. We met at a bar in New York 13-14 years ago and on the back of a cocktail pier napkin discussed and made our initial plans which eventually became a reality. President Trump’s advice when we subsequently tied up and since then has been just this: ‘We don’t want to do too many projects, but whatever we do should we the best in class’,” Mehta (46), who comes from a family of architects, had told TOI last Nov after Trump won the US presidential polls.