The owner of India’s largest clothing exporter has paid £21m for a home in Notting Hill in one of the UK’s biggest residential property deals this year.
Harish Ahuja, owner and managing director of Shahi Exports, purchased the eight-storey property, which is more than 20,000 sq ft in July, according to a UK filing first reported by Bloomberg News.
The tycoon’s son Anand, a director at the company, and daughter-in-law Sonam Kapoor, a Bollywood actress, plan to move into part of the building after redevelopment, while a separate section is likely to be converted into flats, it was reported.
The West London site, a stone’s throw from Kensington Gardens, is said to have been previously owned by a UK-registered charity and religious order.
Based in Karnataka, Shahi is India’s largest garment company and supplies dozens of international brands including Uniqlo, Decathlon and H&M. It claims to run more than 50 factories and employ over 100,000 workers.
Ahuja’s purchase has defied a wider slowdown in London’s high-end property market. The number of deals worth £5m or higher dropped 19 per cent in July compared to a year earlier, according to LonRes.
Agents have warned that looming VAT taxes on private schools and the tightening of “non-dom” rules, set to scrap preferential tax treatment for wealthy foreigners, could hurt prime property in London.
Still, figures from broker Hamptons International show the proportion of prime central London homes purchased by Indians increased three per cent from 2019 to 2023, the most for any one nationality during that period.
Just this month, two Indian buyers purchased apartments in Mayfair for £7.85m and £9.15m respectively, the first once belonging to Princess Diana’s stepmother.
Last year, Indian billionaire Ravi Ruia paid £113m for a mansion near Regent’s Park, while vaccine tycoon Adar Poonawalla snapped up a Mayfair mantion for £138m in the most expensive UK home deal of 2023.
Shahi Exports did not respond to a request for comment.