Educationists among city's top landlords

The IT boom has raised the value of real estate in most parts of greater Chennai, with large swathes of undeveloped land being coveted by developers. Software giants and old economy business houses are seen to be the biggest beneficiaries of such appreciation in realty value, but what isn't known is that some of the biggest holdings in the metro are in the hands of educational institutions.

A study by The Times of India revealed that more than 1,000 acres around the city are held by five educational trusts. Between them, these institutions, which include the well-known Jeppiaar Education Trust and the Hindustan Group of Institutions, own property worth more than Rs 16,000 crore. However, their assets have only a notional value because under existing rules, they cannot be unlocked for commercial exploitation.

The Jeppiaar Trust is by far the biggest; it's chairman, who manages the Sathyabhama Deemed University, holds land worth close to Rs 10,000 crore, an amount large enough to bridge Tamil Nadu's Rs 9,792-crore fiscal deficit.

Jeppiaar runs four engineering colleges in the outlying areas of the city, their campuses spread over 600 acres. A former head constable with the state police, Jeppiaar's fortunes changed in the 1980s when he was appointed head of state-run utility Metrowater by erstwhile chief minister M G Ramachandran.

There's been no looking back. Jeppiaar acquired several hundred acres on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR was rechristened IT Highway and more recently Rajiv Gandhi Road) and started the Jeppiaar Educational Trust in 1987. The first college he opened was named after MGR's mother Sathyabhama.

The same highway is also home to the Hindustan Group of Institutions that runs two engineering colleges. Having acquired 170 acres two decades ago in a then neglected part of the city, Hindustan is now sitting pretty. After the government designated OMR the infotech hub of Chennai, the group's holdings have appreciated significantly and are now estimated to be worth Rs 3,400 crore.
Educationists among city's top landlords-Chennai-Cities-The Times of India