Hines Promotes India Investment Head Ankur Gupta to Managing Director

US builder and fund manager Hines announced a set of promotions for its India team this week, led by the elevation of Ankur Gupta to managing director and head of investments in the world’s most populous country.

Mumbai-based Gupta, who is in his fifth year at privately held Hines, most recently served as senior director and head of investments since February of last year. Throughout his two-decade career, Gupta has overseen capital raises and equity investments in excess of $500 million.

Hines also promoted three members of its India development team to regional managing director positions, country head Amit Diwan said in a LinkedIn post. Anirudh Harlalka is now managing director and head of development for West India, while Babu Nagappan and Biju VM hold the same titles for South India and North India.

For Houston-based Hines, with $1.1 billion in assets under management in India, the personnel moves are the first announced in the country since last year’s shake-up of the Asia Pacific leadership team, which came as part of a restructuring of the real estate services division to complement the investment management platform led by global CIO David Steinbach.

Decade of Deals

Gupta joined Hines in October 2020 as director of investments for India and quickly advanced to regional director and business head for West India.

Previously he spent three years at Tata Realty and Infrastructure, where he led business development and investment management in West and South India, including the acquisition of a 47 acre (19 hectare) land parcel in Navi Mumbai and a JV transaction for a 1.2 million square foot (111,484 square metre) residential development in central Mumbai.

During a five-year spell at Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, Gupta helped launch the $200 million Joyville affordable housing platform and made pan-India investments in residential assets.

In his earlier career, Gupta worked for six years at heavy equipment giant Caterpillar and for real estate tech startups in operations management and business development roles.

A mechanical engineering graduate of Anna University in Chennai, Gupta earned an MBA from the Indian School of Business in 2011.

New-Look Leadership

The Hines India office reports to Asia Pacific head Jon Tanaka, who ascended to that role on the first of this year as Ray Lawler returned home to lead activity in the Americas. The reshuffle also saw Saiko Ishii assume the role of co-lead of Japan alongside Tanaka.

In February, Hines announced its maiden investment in Delhi’s residential market, joining a trio of Indian partners to develop a condo-led mixed-use complex on the site of a former cotton mill in the city.

At a reported cost of INR 40 billion ($460 million), the project will provide 3 million square feet (278,709 square metres) of condo residences and retail spaces across 10 acres (4 hectares) in Delhi’s northern neighbourhood of Kamla Nagar.

The development adds to the Hines portfolio in the Delhi NCR, where the firm teamed with India’s Pioneer Urban last April to develop a $180 million office property southwest of the capital in Gurugram.

Other Hines office projects in Gurugram include One Horizon Centre, completed in 2014 as the firm’s first project in India, and Atrium Place, a four-building complex with delivery anticipated in 2025. Both are joint developments with Indian real estate giant DLF.