(Excerpted with permission from KP Singh and Aparna Jain's new book Why the Heck Not? – Blueprints for Success from the Man Who Built DLF, published by Penguin Random House India.)
KP stood at the precipice of his boldest and toughest venture yet: buying acres of contiguous land in Gurgaon to bring to life his vision of a magnificent city. From overseeing a massive factory workforce of over 1,000 employees at American Universal Electric (India) and Willard to now transitioning to DLF, KP had no need for many people, nor did he want to hire people who held fancy degrees. He wanted a core team adept at every aspect of just one job: land procurement.
KP was the visionary, the ‘convincer’, the policy shaper, and with him stood Amritlal Jain, the low-key, highly talented man with excellent communication skills and Saroop Chand Ansal, a master at handling sheaves of detailed paperwork. Together, they were the triumvirate on a mission to acquire several hundred acres of contiguous land from the farmers in Haryana for DLF.
The Arduous Task of Convincing Families
On average, every farming family had about 5 acres of land, so they would have to meet and convince hundreds of farmer families, which included at least five to six adults in each family, to sell the amount of land KP wanted. This was going to be hard work that required patience.
KP set the ground rules. ‘Our commitment to the farmers must be relentless. Their land isn’t just soil; it’s their existence, and for many, it spans generations and is a family legacy. We mustn’t take advantage of the simplicity of the farmers and exploit their vulnerability; instead, we should embed ourselves in their lives and earn their trust. At DLF, we will always use persuasion, not coercion.
Our way of working will include fair prices for all farmers, and genuine care, without any underhanded tactics. This will include sharing potential upsides when their land value increases, of farmers who choose to buy plots that they might eventually sell to DLF.
These are our principles. It may take years, but this is the path we will follow.’ KP also remembered (his father-in-law) Chaudhary sahab’s advice. ‘In the quest for your own prosperity, ensure the farmers prosper too.’ KP had already demonstrated this trait in 1976, when he worked hard to get an exemption from the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation Act) (ULCRA) for allottees of land sold by DLF in the 1950s.
When he made people wealthy overnight, there was a buzz among the farmers about Chaudhary sahab’s son-in-law, who had fought on their behalf. As he garnered tremendous respect among them, he had come to be known as 'Kaptaan Sahab'. Word spread among the farming community, and now every farmer in Gurgaon too had heard of him and had great admiration and respect for him.
The farmlands in Gurgaon largely belonged to the Ahir and the Jat communities, traditional agricultural and cattle-herding families. They were simple folk who had been brought up on their land, lived off it and never considered selling it. They were not tempted by big money, nor did they have dreams of grandeur.
In fact, any move, even if it meant change for the better, was disconcerting to them. KP’s shoes kicked up dust as he crisscrossed the countryside. He wondered what would best serve the farmers. While they owned large tracts of land, only a small patch could be cultivated for their needs, as the soil was not fertile, and the land was barren and dry.
Good Cop, Bad Cop
The only real lure for them would be if KP could offer them more land of better quality, not too far away. So that’s what he set out to do. KP first developed a strategy. He called Amritlal and said, ‘From this point on, you be the bad cop, and I will be the good cop.’ Amritlal, a simple man, furrowed his brow, grappling to understand what this meant and, more importantly, what lay before him.
KP explained,
‘As the good cop, I shall not broach the topic of money with the farmers. Their welfare and prosperity will be in my domain. I’ll sow the seeds of trust and nurture long-term bonds to become part of their extended family. But you must wear the mantle of the bad cop. Negotiate fairly and arrive at the price we have set out to offer.’
Next, KP remembered Hoddy’s lesson: ‘To know people, know their stories.’ The farmers of Gurgaon were worried about land acquisition by the government of Haryana, and they did not trust anyone. So KP and Amritlal engaged Chaudhary Dayaram of Mehrauli to work with them on this task. Dayaram had tracts of land in Delhi and had amassed a large amount of wealth by selling his land to Chaudhary Raghvendra Singh in the 1950s.
He took on the role of an informal broker for DLF, as the Gurgaon farmers trusted him and treated him more like a peer. KP entrusted the resourceful and streetwise Amritlal with a crucial task. ‘Work with Dayaram and make him your village whisperer.’
Dayaram mingled with people at panchayat gatherings, sipped chai at roadside stalls, and listened to the villagers’ tales. Each farmer had a story, and as he heard their stories, he would come back and report to Amritlal. Amritlal’s dossier grew as he carefully recorded all the stories.
He documented family sizes, land titles and the issues that plagued them. It wasn’t just about paperwork for the team at DLF; it was about empathy. Amritlal understood the farmers’ struggles. The scramble for school admissions, the desperate hunt for medical treatment and hospital beds and the elusiveness of jobs for the grown children.
Dayaram did a wonderful job seeding all the villagers with the stories of KP’s success in Delhi. Dayaram reminded them, ‘If the government acquires your land for infrastructure, you will get peanuts. The man who made us all millionaires was none other than 'Kaptaan Sahab' – KP Singh. We trusted him, and you should too.’ This got the farmers of Gurgaon wondering if luck could possibly strike them too.
Back at KP’s side, Amritlal reported, ‘KP sahab, our villagers share common woes. They need education, healthcare and livelihoods.’ KP’s network was wide. After all, he had been advocating for change in policy with the highest levels in the Haryana government and was connected to people from the CM down to the assistant deputy collectors of Gurgaon. Since he would talk to the junior bureaucrats while waiting before meetings for their bosses, he knew several who could assist him in providing help to the farmers—whether it was admissions in government schools or colleges or hospital admissions.
Being an urban real estate tycoon, KP risked alienating the farmers. But he thought back to how Chaudhary sahab had conducted himself with farmers during the time he was buying land in Delhi in the 1950s. He would dress like the farmers, speak like them and accord them complete respect. Taking a cue from that memory, every evening, KP shed his business veneer and wore a simple white kurta pyjama, a shawl and leather juttis. He added one extra element – a black army beret.
He had been informed that many Gurgaon farmers had something in common. One member of their family was or had been part of the Indian Army. KP also had three distinct advantages. First, he was a Jat himself; every second farming family was Jat. Second, his ego- free communication, which he had honed whilst in the army.
As an avid sportsman, he was the only officer in his regiment who would play volleyball and football matches alongside the jawans. He learnt to connect with them effortlessly and transferred that skill to use with the farmers. Third, he too came from a rural background. His roots in Khandera village provided a comforting familiarity to the farmers.
Most evenings, at sunset, KP immersed himself into farm life, visiting farmers and their families as they returned home. He would address them by name and talk to them about their issues while sitting with them both on the ground or on their charpoys, while sipping milk or chaaj from giant tumblers, or tea from kulhads that they would offer him.
He would occasionally take a puff from the communal hookah. He would meet the same farmer and his family three to four times to get to know them all. He would talk to them about everything but business. He would leave every evening reassuring families of the assistance they needed.
Then, the next morning, Amritlal would reach the willing farmers on his motorcycle with all the paperwork. KP was offering them an amount of money that would buy them ten times the amount of land they had in a fertile area between Sohna, Palwal and Alwar. He would even arrange the land deeds for them.
(KP Singh is the Chairman Emeritus of DLF Ltd, having retired as Executive Chairman in 2020. Aparna Jain spent 23 years in business development and marketing roles in technology and media sectors in India and the USA. This is her fifth book.)
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