US President Donald Trump may have called India a “dead” economy for which he couldn’t care less, but for his family-controlled The Trump Organization, India is now the largest market outside the US over the last 10 years. Until last year, it forged multiple tie-ups with top builders and earned at least Rs 175 crore from seven projects in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Gurugram, as per available records.
Over the last eight months, Brand Trump has been on an aggressive expansion drive in India. Soon after his election as the 47th President of the United States of America on November 5, 2024, The Trump Organization, along with its Indian partner Tribeca Developers, announced at least six projects in Gurugram, Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida and Bengaluru, adding up to 8 million sq feet of realty development.
The Trump Organization’s earnings from these are yet to be disclosed, but experts said, its partnerships with the biggest builders, not only allows the Trump enterprise to tap into the most lucrative markets in the world’s fastest growing economy, but also brings it continuous revenue stream with no financial risk.
Of these, three projects totalling around 4.3 million sq ft — more than half of Brand Trump’s target — have already been launched in Pune, Gurugram and Hyderabad this year.
From the first project announced in India in 2012, Brand Trump’s footprint is set to see, by the time these projects are complete, a near four-fold expansion to 11 million square feet, a sharp jump from approximately 3 million sq ft developed until last year.
These new ventures bring a sales potential of an estimated at least Rs 15,000 crore, Tribeca shared during the Pune launch of its first commercial development project in March this year.
The Trump Organization does not invest directly in construction. It lends its brand for upfront licence fees, or development fees, which could be construction-linked or, in most cases, a 3–5 per cent share in project sales. The properties are typically billed as luxury developments, with flats commanding a premium due to the President’s name being attached to them.
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Those executing the projects in India include big corporates like Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and established real estate companies such as the Lodha Group, M3M Group, Panchshil Realty, IRA Infra, and Unimark. Kalpesh Mehta-led Tribeca Developers is the official partner of The Trump Organization in India.
The Indian Express reached out to the Reliance Group, Tribeca Developers, M3M Group, Unimark Group and Panchshil Group as well as The Trump Organization for this report, but did not receive any comment. The Lodha Group said it is not planning any Trump-branded project at the moment.
The Trump Organization, headquartered in NYC, is a family-controlled conglomerate and functions as the main holding company for Donald J. Trump’s various business ventures through numerous subsidiaries spanning various industries, including real estate and hospitality. Founded and majority-held by Donald J. Trump, the organisation has his sons Donald J. Trump Jr. and Eric Trump as executive vice-presidents.
Until 2017, Donald J. Trump functioned as the president and CEO of The Trump Organization. Upon being elected the President of the USA in 2017, he “stepped down from day-to-day management” and handed over the operational responsibilities to his sons while retaining the majority-ownership through a trust. Since 2021, he has been described as the chairman of the organisation.
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Days after he was elected President for the second time, The Trump Organization floated on November 14, 2024, four companies to license the Trump brand name in India. These are: DT Marks Noida 94 LLC, DT Marks Gurgaon 111 LLC, DT Marks Gurgaon 69 LLC, and DT Marks Pune Mundhwa LLC. A month prior to the US elections, DT Marks Hyderabad LLC was incorporated on October 16.
The Pune project, announced in March this year, is the first Trump-branded commercial project in the city. In a statement during the launch, Eric Trump, Executive Vice President, The Trump Organization, said, “India has embraced the Trump brand with remarkable enthusiasm”.
In 2024, The Trump Organization received at least $12 million from India, as per his annual financial disclosure report. A bulk of this, $10 million, was paid as ‘development fees’ by Reliance 4IR Realty, a subsidiary of RIL.
Tribeca Developers, M3M subsidiaries, the Lodha Group, Unimark and the RDB Group, paid about $2.2 million as licence and royalty fees for the properties in Gurugram, Mumbai and Kolkata, public financial disclosures by Donald Trump show.
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Around the time Trump commenced his first tenure as the President in 2017, The Trump Organization entered two realty projects in Kolkata and Gurugram. Earlier, Trump lent his brand to a project each in Pune (2012) and Mumbai (2013).
Between 2012 and 2019, The Trump Organization earned up to $11.3 million in fees and royalties from its four India projects — $6 million through DT Marks Worli LLC and $1 million each through DT Marks Pune LLC, DT Tower Gurgaon LLC and DT Tower Kolkata LLC by 2017, according to various tax declarations. In the first two years of his presidency, it had earned $2.3 million, said the New York Times in a report on September 27, 2020.
Of the 13 Trump-branded projects in India, two have been completed, two are nearing completion, and three are in early stages of development, three are awaiting launch, two are stalled, and one by Reliance 4IR is yet to be announced.
Earlier, Donald Trump Jr, the other Executive Vice President of The Trump Organization, identified India as “the biggest push for our organization” on the website of Tribeca Developers, its licensed partner in India.
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Tribeca is founded by Mehta, an alumnus of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, who in an interview to Hindustan Times last November, said he was introduced to Trump Jr (also from Wharton) by a professor who made the deal happen.
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