Why Guwahati is India’s next boom-town

A Marathi writer once told me how to identify the next investment hot-spot in India: watch where the politicians are parking their money.  If you see politicians investing large sums of time and money in an economic activity, no matter how obscure, expect that field to grow, he had said. The author provided many examples, of which I quote two: cricket, which the Indian politicians discovered as a lucrative investment option years before the IPL boom, and mining. (He also mentioned human-trafficking, but apart from the noble Indian ex-MP Babubhai Katara, there are no other known trailblazers right now).

Using this measure, one can also track the next geographical growth location: watch where corrupt politicians and bureaucrats buy land. By this measure, Guwahati seems to be India’s next boom-town. Arvind and Tinoo Joshi, corrupt IAS officers recently suspended by the Madhya Pradesh government, bought 18 apartments in Guwahati:

“SUSPENDED IAS couple of 1979 batch, Arvind and Tinoo Joshis’ reported amassing of assets worth Rs 300 crore has been the talking point among bureaucrats across the country on Wednesday, but what has intrigued many is why this Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS couple with stints at New Delhi and Bhopal chose to purchase 18 of out of 25 flats in far-flung North-East city of Guwahati? What’s their Assam connection? Or has Guwahati with its new property boom become a safe route to park unaccounted money of politicians and bureaucrats? No wonder, Guwahati’s property market witnessed a boom even when there was a dip across major metros thanks to global downturn and economic uncertainty.”

   

Even by the standards of corrupt Indian babus, the Joshi couple’s loot is eye-popping:

"The income-tax department here on Friday attached the bank accounts and properties of billionaire IAS couple Arvind and Tinu Joshi who are estimated to be worth Rs 360 crore.

As many as 77 bank accounts belonging to members of Joshi family, their real estate and other properties have been attached under the provisions of section 281-B of the Income Tax Act 1961."

Perhaps the Joshis were doing their bit towards national integration, addressing the growth imbalance in the North East.