DLF Limited (formerly Delhi Land & Finance) is an Indian

commercial real estate Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office bu ...

development company. It was founded by Chaudhary Raghvendra Singh in 1946, and it is based in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, India. DLF has developed residential colonies in Delhi such as Model Town,

Rajouri Garden Rajouri Garden is a market and residential neighbourhood in West Delhi, India. The Main Market and Nehru Market are the key markets of the area. The population is largely Punjabi who migrated to Delhi, following the Partition of India, from Pak ...

, Krishna Nagar,

South Extension South Extension or New Delhi South Extension (NDSE) is a neighbourhood of South Delhi, India. It is also described as a premier shopping destination. Situated on the Ring Road, Delhi, just east of All India Institute of Medical Sciencesbr>r ...

Greater Kailash Greater Kailash (often referred to as GK) is a residential area in South Delhi consisting of several neighborhoods and multiple markets. It is divided into three zones, namely part 1, 2, and 3, located around a section of the Outer Ring Road. ...

Kailash Colony Kailash Colony is a residential neighborhood in South Delhi, India. Greater Kailash is extension of this place. Neighborhoods Its neighboring areas are Kailash Hills, East of Kailash, Mount Kailash Apartments, Greater Kailash, Lajpat Nagar, ...

, and

Hauz Khas Hauz Khas is a neighborhood in South Delhi, its heart being the historic Hauz Khas Complex. Well known in medieval times, the Hauz Khas village has buildings built around the reservoir. There are remnants of Islamic architecture roughly color ...

. DLF builds

residential A residential area is a land used in which houses, housing predominates, as opposed to industrial district, industrial and Commercial Area, commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include ...

, office, and retail properties. With the passage of the Delhi Development Act in 1957, the local government assumed control of real estate development and banned private real estate developers from Delhi proper. As a result, DLF began acquiring land at a relatively low cost outside the area controlled by the

Delhi Development Authority The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is a statutory body established under the Delhi Development Act, 1957, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India to "promote and secure the development of Del ...

, in the district of

Gurgaon Gurgaon (), officially named Gurugram (), is a satellite city of Delhi and administrative headquarters of Gurgaon district, located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest ...

, and in the adjacent state of

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. In the mid-1970s, the company started developing their DLF City project at

. This included hotels,

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

, and

special economic zones A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

-related development projects. The company is headed by Rajiv Singh, who is the current chairman of the DLF Group. According to the Forbes listing of richest billionaires in 2023, Kushal Pal Singh, Chairman Emeritus, is the 19th richest man in India with a net worth of US$8.8 billion. The company's $2 billion

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

in July 2007 was India's biggest IPO in history. In its first quarter results for the period ending 30 June 2007, the company reported a turnover of and profit after taxes of . As of 31 March 2012, the company had 1,380 square feet of leased retail space across the country. In 2013–14, it leased out 3 million sq ft of

office space ''Office Space'' is a 1999 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes the office work life of a typical 1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals weary of their jobs. It stars Ron ...

in India.

History

DLF's first residential project was Krishna Nagar in

East Delhi East Delhi is an administrative district of Delhi in India. It is bounded by the Yamuna River on the west, North East Delhi to the north, Ghaziabad district, India, Ghaziabad District of Uttar Pradesh state to the east, and Gautam Buddha Nagar ...

, which was completed in 1949. Subsequently, the company developed 21 colonies in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, including Model Town,

, Punjabi Bagh,

and

. The passage of Delhi Development Act in 1957 was the first serious challenge to company's growth. The Act meant that the government would assume control of all real estate development activities in the city. As a result, DLF decided to move beyond

and focused on the suburb of

in Haryana, which had the potential for development of residential and commercial properties. As DLF started to acquire land under the leadership of Chairman K.P. Singh, Gurgaon embarked on a period of rapid growth.
A 58 crore deal was cancelled between DLF and

Robert Vadra Robert Vadra (born 18 April 1969) is an Indian entrepreneur, and the husband of Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi. Early life and family Robert Vadra was born in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, to Rajendra Vadra and Maureen on 18 April 1969. His father's ...

by IAS officer

Ashok Khemka Ashok Khemka (born 30 April 1965) is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer & civil servant from the 1991 batch. As of March 2025, he had been transferred 66 times during his career, making him the second-most transferred bureauc ...

Sponsorship

In 2008, DLF became the

title sponsor Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

of the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

, a newly formed

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

league. DLF paid close to for the five-year sponsorship deal. The deal ended in the 2012 version of the season, wherein it was taken over by

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

Beyond buildings

Haryana Urban Development Authority Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), formerly Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), is the urban planning agency of the state of Haryana in India except Gurugram and Faridabad which has Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority an ...

(HUDA) and DLF, in a 50:50 joint venture, have completed work on a 16-lane, 10.5 km road network in Gurgaon. This stretch from NH8 Toll Plaza to Sector 55/56 in Gurgaon with six underpasses, one flyover and freeways has improved traffic management in the city. To create this infrastructure facility, DLF had engaged

Parsons Brinckerhoff WSP USA, formerly Parsons Brinckerhoff, is an American multinational engineering and design firm. The firm operates in the fields of strategic consulting, planning, engineering, construction management, energy, infrastructure and community plann ...

for project management consultancy and construction work had been awarded to

IL&FS Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) is an Indian state-funded infrastructure development and finance company. It was created by public sector banks and insurance companies. It operates through more than 250 subsidiaries ...

Controversies

In August 2011, a penalty of was imposed on DLF by the

Competition Commission of India The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India. It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 to promote competition a ...

(CCI) after finding DLF guilty of breaching laws regarding the unfair pricing of goods and services. The complaint was lodged against DLF by buyers in its residential projects Belaire & Park Place, located in

. In February 2015, the CCI ordered its investigative arm to probe two more projects of DLF in

, namely, DLF Regal Gardens and DLF Skycourt.

DLF land grab case DLF land grab case is a case related to 50 acre land grab in 2013 in Amipur village of Haryana during the Congress' Bhupinder Singh Hooda government, for which Robert Vadra, Hooda and DLF (company), DLF are being investigated by the CBI (c. De ...

pertains to the alleged illegal acquisition of 50 acres of land in Amipur village,

, back in 2013, during

Bhupinder Singh Hooda Bhupinder Singh Hooda (born 15 September 1947) is an Indian National Congress politician, who has served as the Chief Minister of Haryana from 2005 to 2014. He was the Leader of the Opposition in Haryana Legislative Assembly from 2019 to 2024 ...

's tenure as Chief Minister under the Congress government. This matter has led to an investigation by the

Central Bureau of Investigation The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the domestic crime investigating agency of India. It operates under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Originally set up to investigate bribery and gover ...

involving

, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the DLF, as of around December 2017.

Constructed buildings

File:DlfibmkolkataITTechPark.jpg, DLF IBM Kolkata (Tech Park) File:DLFKolkataIBM.jpg, DLF IT Tech Park (IBM Kolkata) File:DLF Cybercity Chennai.jpg, DLF Cybercity Chennai File:DLF Epitome Tower, DLF Phase 3, Gurugram.jpg, alt=DLF Epitome Tower, Gurugram, DLF Epitome Tower, Gurugram File:DLF_Cyber_City,_DLF_Phase_2,_Sector_24,_Gurgaon,_Haryana_122021,_India_-_panoramio.jpg, DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Real estate companies established in 1946 Companies based in New Delhi Real estate companies of India Indian companies established in 1946 Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange