Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

While the man on the street continues to wonder when he will be able to buy a modest home of his own, India’s super-rich are raising palatial homes at truly astronomical expense.

Indeed, on the surface, India’s wealthiest appear to operate in an entirely separate dimension which has no overlap at all with the ‘real’ world.

There is certainly an element of truth in this – wealth tends to beget more wealth, and at some point, a perpetual motion machine grinds into motion; a cycle of money-generation which vibrates on a rather unique frequency.

The question is – does this frequency broadcast an ever-widening social divide? Not quite.

There are more elements to these super-homes than meets the eye. The trend of India’s extremely high net-worth individuals building palatial homes needs to be viewed from various angles.

Of course, it is to a great extent, a lifestyle statement that broadcasts the fact that the individual and his family have ‘arrived’ and should be numbered among the country’s wealthiest and most influential people.