The quiet strategists reshaping Indian real estate beyond dynasty capital

A structural shift is producing a new class of real estate leadership in India

Indian real estate's narrative has long been dominated by dynasty builders, second-generation heirs of publicly listed empires and conglomerates whose surnames double as brand equity. The Lodhas, Oberois, and Bagmanes of the sector command outsized attention from global capital allocators and media alike. Yet beneath this visible layer, a cohort of strategic operators is engineering institutional-grade platforms that may prove more consequential to the sector's next decade than any single mega-project.

Sachin Bhanushali, Atul Chordia, Nikhil Chaturvedi, and Mihir Nerurkar each occupy distinct positions in India's real estate and infrastructure ecosystem. None inherited a dynasty. None followed a conventional developer playbook. What connects them is a shared orientation toward capital structuring, platform scalability, and institutional credibility, qualities that position them at the center of a market projected to reach USD 926.56 billion by 2031 at a 9.63% CAGR, according to Mordor Intelligence.

Their emergence is neither accidental nor peripheral. It reflects a structural transformation in how capital enters Indian real estate. Institutional investments in the sector reached approximately USD 4.3 billion in the initial nine months of 2025, with domestic investors comprising 48% of overall institutional inflows, according to the India Real Estate Investment Report 2026. The composition of that capital, and the platforms designed to absorb it, matter as much as the volume.

Who are the capital strategists building India's next institutional real estate platforms?

Each of the four leaders profiled here embodies a different facet of the platform-building model that is gaining traction across Indian real estate and infrastructure.

Sachin Bhanushali operates at the intersection of real estate development and structured finance facilitation. He also serves as CEO of Gateway Rail Freight Ltd., according to GRI Institute records. This dual positioning across real estate and logistics infrastructure reflects a growing pattern where Indian operators build cross-sector capital platforms rather than confining themselves to a single asset class. Bhanushali's approach integrates development execution with financial engineering, a combination that appeals to institutional investors seeking operators who understand both sides of the capital stack.

Atul Chordia has built Panchshil Realty into Pune's most institutionally recognized real estate platform. The firm has delivered 31.7 million sq. ft. of premium real estate, with over 27.6 million sq. ft. currently under development, according to Panchshil Realty's disclosures. Chordia's most strategically significant move came in December 2024, when Ventive Hospitality, a division he founded within Panchshil Realty, achieved a public listing. That IPO was a clear signal that regional developers can access public capital markets when governance, brand, and operational depth meet institutional thresholds. Chordia's trajectory from Pune-focused builder to publicly listed hospitality platform architect is a template that other mid-tier operators are studying closely.

Nikhil Chaturvedi represents perhaps the most unconventional path into real estate leadership. His background in retail, notably with the Pantaloons brand, gave him deep expertise in consumer-facing asset management, lease structuring, and portfolio optimization. His proposed acquisition of a 26% stake in Prozone Realty Limited for approximately INR 990 million, reported by MarketScreener India in December 2024, signals a deliberate pivot toward institutionalizing a mixed-use real estate platform. Chaturvedi's retail DNA is an asset in an era where the highest-performing real estate portfolios integrate consumption, experience, and commerce.

Mihir Nerurkar brings the discipline of global institutional infrastructure management to the Indian market. Serving as Managing Director and Operating Partner in Brookfield's Infrastructure group for India, Nerurkar oversees operations of all infrastructure assets in the country, according to GRI Institute. His role places him at the intersection of sovereign-scale capital deployment and on-the-ground operational execution. Nerurkar's career arc, from a senior position at Oberoi Realty to leading Brookfield's Indian infrastructure operations, illustrates how institutional platforms actively recruit leaders who combine local market knowledge with global capital discipline.

These four leaders share a defining characteristic: they build platforms designed to attract and deploy institutional capital, rather than relying on traditional land-banking or family balance sheets.

Why does the mid-tier operator layer matter more than ever for global allocators?

The significance of this leadership cohort extends well beyond individual career trajectories. Global allocators seeking exposure to Indian real estate face a structural challenge. The largest listed developers are well-covered and often fully priced. The smallest regional builders lack governance infrastructure. The mid-tier layer, operators generating revenues in the INR 2,000 to 8,000 crore range and professionalizing rapidly, represents the most fertile ground for institutional capital deployment.

Two regulatory developments are accelerating this dynamic. First, the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act of 2016 (RERA) continues to narrow the governance gap between national and regional developers, making mid-tier operators increasingly investable for institutional capital. RERA's compliance requirements around project registration, financial disclosure, and buyer protection have created a regulatory floor that rewards operators who invest in governance.

Second, SEBI's introduction of the Small and Medium Real Estate Investment Trusts (SM REITs) framework in March 2024 opens a new monetization pathway for regional operators. The SM REIT regulations target fractional ownership platforms with asset values between INR 50 crore and INR 500 crore, requiring a minimum of 200 investors. According to CBRE Research, the potential market for SM REITs covers over 300 million sq. ft. of completed commercial office space, translating into an estimated market size of over USD 60 billion. This regulatory innovation effectively creates a capital markets on-ramp for precisely the kind of mid-tier platforms that Chordia, Chaturvedi, and Bhanushali are building.

The convergence of RERA-driven governance improvement and SM REIT-enabled capital access is producing a class of regional operators that can compete for institutional allocation on merit rather than legacy.

PE investment in Indian real estate is expected to rebound 28% to approximately USD 4.4 billion in 2026, according to GRI Institute projections. A meaningful share of that capital will flow toward platforms that demonstrate institutional governance, scalable operations, and diversified revenue streams, precisely the attributes this emerging leadership cohort is cultivating.

How does this leadership archetype challenge conventional market mapping?

Most institutional investors and advisory firms map Indian real estate leadership through three lenses: dynasty-led national developers, South India institutional architects, and Mumbai-listed operator-developers. This taxonomy, while useful, misses a critical layer.

The capital strategists profiled here do not fit neatly into any of these categories. Bhanushali bridges real estate and logistics infrastructure. Chordia has moved from regional development to public hospitality markets. Chaturvedi imports retail-sector discipline into real estate portfolio construction. Nerurkar channels global institutional infrastructure capital into Indian operations. Their common thread is the construction of capital platforms rather than mere development portfolios.

This distinction carries practical implications for allocators. A development portfolio is valued on land bank and sales velocity. A capital platform is valued on governance infrastructure, asset management capability, recurring income potential, and the ability to attract successive rounds of institutional investment. The latter commands higher multiples and greater strategic relevance in a market moving toward USD 926.56 billion by 2031.

India's ease of doing business in real estate remains a recognized challenge, which makes local operational depth and strategic partnerships essential for cross-border capital deployment. Leaders who combine ground-level execution capability with institutional financial architecture solve a problem that pure-play global investors cannot address alone.

GRI Institute's ongoing research into India's real estate and infrastructure leadership ecosystem, including conversations at GRI India events and cross-border dialogues with global allocators, consistently surfaces this mid-tier operator layer as an area of intensifying institutional interest. The leaders profiled here are among the most frequently discussed figures in private capital conversations about Indian real estate's next phase.

The strategic imperative

Indian real estate's growth story is well documented. The more important question for institutional capital is: who will build the platforms capable of absorbing that growth at institutional quality? Dynasty-led firms will continue to command market share. Listed giants will retain public market access. But the next wave of institutional value creation in Indian real estate will increasingly be driven by capital strategists who construct platforms from the middle layer outward.

Sachin Bhanushali, Atul Chordia, Nikhil Chaturvedi, and Mihir Nerurkar are not building empires designed for magazine covers. They are building capital infrastructure designed for institutional deployment. That distinction will define which platforms attract the next USD 4.4 billion in PE investment and which are left competing on legacy alone.

GRI Institute will continue to track the evolution of this leadership cohort through its India-focused research, member dialogues, and cross-border investment forums.