Zoho founder and chief scientist Sridhar Vembu has attributed the high cost of land in Indian cities such as Chennai and Bengaluru to corruption, arguing that property prices in these cities have reached levels comparable to those in New York despite India's significantly lower per capita income.
In a post on X, Vembu said the ratio of land value to per capita GDP in India is likely among the highest in the world. He noted that land prices in Chennai and Bengaluru rival those in New York, even though the US city has a much higher per capita GDP.
According to Vembu, one of the main reasons is that large amounts of political corruption money are parked in real estate, pushing up property prices. He said elevated land prices then affect multiple sectors of the economy.
"First, vast sums of political corruption money is parked in real estate. This raises real estate prices and high real estate prices affect everything downstream," Vembu wrote.
