The morning commute in Mumbai, with the Altimus tower in the background.
Photographer: Abeer Khan/BloombergMumbai’s Skyline Is Soaring. So Is the Pressure on Housing
As global businesses pour into India’s financial capital, millions of low-income residents face redevelopment deals that will determine whether they can stay.
The 41-story Altimus tower in Mumbai offers sweeping views of the Arabian Sea. In the wake of a boom in India’s markets, Barclays, BlackRock, KKR, Morgan Stanley and UBS Group have all taken up posts in this glittering glass building in the Worli neighborhood, a former fishing village that’s become a favored residential address for the city’s elite.
Not far away, taxi driver Ramu Virmale is attempting to negotiate a real estate deal of his own. He and his neighbors in a low-income pocket of Worli are hoping to win modest but modern new apartments by allowing a developer to clear away their informally built shanties and replace them with offices or luxury residential towers. It’s a story being repeated across Mumbai, a packed island city where almost a quarter of the 21 million residents live in sprawling slums.