Presidency ‘negative’ for our realty business: Donald Trump Jr

Mumbai, February 23

American real estate magnate Donald John Trump Jr has said his father’s presidency is definitely a “negative” for the family’s business, but the senior Trump will be back to the business post-presidency.

Trump Organisation has not signed any new projects in India since Donald Trump took over as the president of the US in January 2017. The company had announced last year that it would not enter into any new foreign deals while Trump is in the White House to avoid any conflict of interest.

Stressing on how the Indian market is important for his company, Trump Jr, executive vice-president of the Trump Organisation, said, “When we get back in business, India will be an important market for us.”

He was speaking at an event organised by the Lodha Group, the Trump Organisation’s local partner building the country’s first Trump Tower here, on Thursday evening.

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The elder son of Trump said he’s been coming to India for the past decade and “nurturing relationships”.

“We have been here for over a decade, partnering with the right people, in the right market,” he said.

According to him, India is lacking in true luxury projects, but it’s been catching up with the global standards in the past few years.

“Buyers were paying for ‘X’ in search for luxury, but we’re getting ‘X’ minus a lot more,” he said, adding, “This is changing now.”

The US President’s son is in India on a week-long visit to expand Trump Organisation’s real estate business in Asia’s third-largest economy.

The New-York based company, since entering the domestic market in 2013, has launched four luxury residential projects with a revenue potential of USD 1.5 billion.

On Thursday, Trump Jr announced the structural completion of one of the four projects being built here in association with the Lodha Group. However, the entire 78-storey Trump Tower, Mumbai, is due for completion only in mid-2019.

Other than the Mumbai project, the company’s portfolio includes residential projects across Pune, Gurugram and Kolkata in association with local real estate developers such as Panchshil Realty, M3M, Tribeca, Unimark and IREO.

The fifth one, which is expected to be a commercial office project, is likely to be launched soon.

The company has brand-licensing agreements with local developers but has made no equity investments.

India is already the USD 9.5-billion Trump Organisation biggest residential real estate market outside the US. PTI