Rs 271 crore for a home! Entrepreneur Manav Sardana buys super-luxury penthouse at DLF’s The Dahlias

Entrepreneur Manav Sardana has reportedly bought a penthouse at DLF’s The Dahlias in Gurugram for Rs 271 crore, in a deal reported to be India’s costliest single-unit residential transaction. The penthouse is reported to have a super area of 17,200 sq ft and a carpet area of 10,500 sq ft. At the reported purchase price, that works out to about Rs 1.58 lakh per sq ft on a super-area basis and about Rs 2.58 lakh per sq ft based on carpet area. The transaction stands out because the Rs 271 crore price relates to a single residential unit. It has been reported as India’s most expensive single-unit residential deal and is also among the country’s costliest housing transactions on a per-square-foot basis. Who is Manav Sardana? Sardana has previously been associated with Imperial Auto Industries, a manufacturer of fluid transmission products for the automotive and off-highway sectors. Imperial Auto said it was established as a small-scale enterprise in Faridabad in 1969 by Jagjit Singh and S.B. Sardana. The company later expanded into a major supplier of fluid transmission products to original equipment manufacturers in India and overseas. Its product portfolio includes flexible high-pressure assemblies, metal tubular assemblies and low-pressure hose assemblies. Imperial Auto also has in-house capabilities in areas including electroplating and rubber-compound mixing. The company describes itself as India’s largest integrated manufacturer and assembler of fluid transmission products and said it has more than 20 facilities in India, with additional operations outside the country. Imperial Auto’s ownership changed in 2022 when Stone Plant Investments, an affiliate of global private equity firm Warburg Pincus, acquired a majority stake in Imperial Auto Industries and its affiliated companies. At the time, Warburg Pincus said the group generated revenue of about Rs 2,200 crore and had more than 20 manufacturing facilities across India, Germany and the US. It also said Imperial Auto supplied major original equipment manufacturers in domestic and overseas markets. What is The Dahlias? The Dahlias is DLF’s super- luxury residential development in DLF5, Sector 54, Gurugram. The project was registered with the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority in October 2024. DLF launched the project in the same period. Its official disclosures describe The Dahlias as a roughly 17-acre development comprising 420 residences. The project includes eight residential towers and 15 duplex penthouses. DLF reported Rs 11,816 crore in bookings from The Dahlias during its opening quarter, making the project the main contributor to the company’s record residential bookings in the three months to December 2024. The developer has continued to raise prices at the project. During DLF’s Q1 FY27 analyst call in August 2026, managing director and chief business officer (CBO) Aakash Ohri said about 34 homes at The Dahlias had been sold in the previous quarter. “We are almost about 65% sold,” Ohri said. He added that the project’s entry price had moved above Rs 100 crore. DLF said price realisation had risen above Rs 1 lakh per sq ft, based on saleable area, while homes on higher floors were selling at around Rs 1.20 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh per sq ft. Ohri also told investors that the project was drawing buyers from across India and overseas, with about 25% to 30% of its business coming from outside the local market, including non-resident Indians. Other major deals at The Dahlias Sardana’s reported purchase follows several other high-value transactions at the development. Investor Madhusudan Murlidhar Kela bought an apartment at The Dahlias for Rs 120.71 crore in April 2026, according to property registration documents reported by Hindustan Times . The home has a carpet area of about 6,233 sq ft. Former India cricket opener Shikhar Dhawan bought an apartment at the project in February 2025. Property documents reported by Hindustan Times put the apartment price at Rs 65.61 crore and the total transaction cost, including stamp duty, at Rs 68.89 crore. In October 2025, four apartments at The Dahlias were reported to have been bought by a Delhi-NCR business family for close to Rs 380 crore. The distinction in Sardana’s reported transaction is that the Rs 271 crore price relates to one residential unit rather than a group of apartments. DLF’s own disclosures provide further evidence of the prices being achieved at the development. The company said The Dahlias is about 65% sold and that current entry-level prices exceed Rs 100 crore, with price realisations above Rs 1 lakh per sq ft. Sardana’s reported Rs 271 crore purchase therefore stands out even within a development where homes priced above Rs 100 crore have become part of the project’s current sales range. The buyer’s identity and the details of the Rs 271 crore transaction have been reported by media outlets, while DLF has not made a public announcement confirming the deal.