Lodha vs Lodha: What is at stake?

Mumbai's Lodha family feud escalates to court, with Abhishek Lodha seeking ₹5,000 crore damages from brother Abhinandan over brand disputes.

Mumbai: A dispute between siblings is far from new among India’s top business families. The most (in)famous feud was the one between Mukesh and Anil Ambani after the death of their father, Dhirubhai Ambani, which ultimately led to the split of the Reliance Group in 2005, brokered by the siblings’ mother.

Abhinandan Lodha broke away to found his own firm

The real estate industry has also seen its fair share of families who have split the business. “The list includes the Rahejas, the Hiranandanis, the Sheths, the Godrejs, etc,” said an industry insider.

And now, with the differences between Abhishek and Abhinandan Lodha reaching the corridors of the judiciary, people from the industry are either taking sides based on their business interests or preferring to voice a neutral opinion.

At the heart of the dispute is the ‘Lodha’ brand, associated with the real estate giant Lodha Group, founded in 1980 by Mangal Prabhat Lodha, a billionaire who’s currently a minister in the Maharashtra government. His sons, Abhishek and Abhinandan, eventually joined the business, and everything seemed amicable until 2015, when they decided to part ways.

That’s when Abhinandan founded his own business, Lodha Ventures, while Abhishek continued to manage the Lodha Group and its flagship company, Macrotech Developers. The feud became public last week when Abhishek’s company filed a petition in the Bombay high court, seeking damages worth ₹5,000 crore from House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL), a company founded by Abhinandan in 2021, alleging that it illegally used the brand names Lodha and Lodha Group. Interestingly, HoABL’s registered address and the Lodha Group’s corporate address are a few floors apart, both at Lodha Excelus at NM Joshi Marg, near Mumbai’s Chinchpokli railway station.

So, what’s at stake in this family feud? For one, brand value. The Lodha Group’s market capitalisation is around ₹1,10,000 crore. It has a portfolio of a few hundred completed and ongoing projects, compared with just over a dozen by HoABL.

“Those who know, know that both [companies] have distinct identities,” said an industry insider. “HoABL operates outside city limits and is into plotted developments, also referred to as weekend homes. The Lodha Group is into almost each of the real estate segments, and largely operates within cities limits,” another industry insider shared, “Once upon a time, Lodha Group wasn’t a reliable brand, but it has significantly worked on the brand value to what it is today.”

According to a real estate rich list published annually, Mangal Prabhat Lodha’s wealth nearly doubled from ₹52,790 crore in 2022 to ₹1,03,000 crore in 2023, making him among the top 20 richest Indians.

“I don’t see anything apart from the brand value that is at stake,” said a real estate analyst. “Though they operate in the same industry, their businesses are different to the extent that the over 40-year-old company is even building a Trump Tower in Mumbai.”

It’s this brand value that Abhishek Lodha is trying to discourage his brother from tapping into. “Buyers of HoABL might wrongly think that they have associated with the prestigious Lodha Group, not knowing that HoABL has got nothing to do with Macrotech Developers and its brands, Lodha and Lodha Group,” said the real estate analyst.

Another industry insider said that while buyers may get misled, other real estate companies that have seen family disputes are also in a similar situation.

Like the Rahejas, for instance.

“There are so many Rahejas in the market, with only the prefix being different—K Raheja, S Raheja, and so on,” said the analyst. “Likewise, the Hiranandani family also has split. The House of Hiranandani is managed by Surendra Hiranandani, while his brother Niranjan is at the helm of the Hiranandani Group. But their disputes never reached the court, as they amicably settled their differences.”

He added, “Perhaps the way out for the Lodhas too is to sit across the table and arrive at a mutually acceptable solution, as done by others and rightly suggested by the court.”