Our owners are among the promoters of two companies listed in India, Valor Estate Limited and Advent Hotels International Limited, and UBF holds its own portfolio of real estate and hospitality investments alongside them. Strong relationships and a long record in the city make us a well-placed partner for those who want to invest in Mumbai and beyond.
Our interests today include, through the listed companies, a land bank of more than 570 acres in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and 3,517 hotel keys operating and under development across Mumbai, Goa and New Delhi — together with UBF’s own portfolio of investments.
Born in 1889 in the village of Koita, in Gujarat, Ebrahim Balwa came to Bombay as a young man and built his first business from the ground up. Our growth has been built on his enterprise and determination, and on the values he established: hard work, fair dealing, and a commitment to the city that gave the family its start.
For more than a century Mumbai has been at the centre of our operations, our largest market, and where we have the deepest local knowledge and roots. Today we are opening doors in the Gulf and beyond.
Our values“Do not build on the shore when my tide is out. I am the sea — I always come back roaring.”
Arshad S. BalwaChairmanUBF Holdings
Ebrahim Balwa born
First business
From that first café the family grew steadily across the city: into restaurants, into dairying at Bombay Central from 1930, and, from 1971, into property.
Each business was built on the one before it, and each was held for the long term. That approach has not changed in more than a century.
Generations
Our founder saw that a growing city would need to be fed, housed and served, and he built businesses to do each of those things well.
UBF HoldingsOur Foundation
Opened at Ballard Estate in 1923, in the heart of Bombay’s commercial district, and a landmark of the city for generations.
A new address
In 1923 the family opened Kalpana Restaurant at Ballard Estate, opposite the General Post Office, in the commercial heart of the city.
For generations Kalpana was one of the district’s best-known dining rooms, serving the merchants, professionals and civil servants who worked around it.
Over the decades that followed the family expanded across the city, adding dairy farms at Bombay Central in 1930, property from 1971, and its first hotel in 1984. Each step was taken with the same long-term view.
Working with leading international partners, the family has developed the Grand Hyatt Goa, the Hilton Mumbai International Airport, and the Marriott Marquis and St. Regis at Delhi Aerocity, together with residential and commercial projects across Mumbai.
Landmark assets
Grand Hyatt Goa
Hilton Mumbai International Airport
Marriott Marquis Delhi Aerocity
St. Regis Delhi Aerocity
Keys developed
Generations
The listed companies are independently governed, with their own boards and management. UBF is separate from both: it holds the family’s own investments, made with the family’s own capital.
Real estate · Listed in India since 2010 · Formerly DB Realty
A leading Mumbai developer of residential, commercial and mixed-use projects, with a land bank of more than 570 acres in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Its projects include Ten BKC with Adani Realty, Godrej Avenue Eleven with Godrej Properties, and the Sahar and Worli developments with Prestige Estates.
A land bank of more than 570 acres in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, as disclosed in the company’s FY26 annual report.
Hospitality · Listed in India since 2025 · Demerged from Valor Estate
A hospitality company that creates, owns and manages luxury and upper-upscale hotels in prime locations, with 3,517 keys operating and under development across Mumbai, Goa and New Delhi.
Its portfolio includes the Grand Hyatt Goa and the Hilton Mumbai International Airport, with the Marriott Marquis and St. Regis under development at Delhi Aerocity.
Seven hospitality assets and 3,517 keys, operating and under development, across Mumbai, Goa and New Delhi, held through the listed companies.
Balwa Charitable Trust. The Balwa Charitable Trust runs the N.M. Balwa High School at Pirojpura, in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat, where the family has its roots. The school teaches in English from kindergarten to the tenth standard on a campus built by the Trust, and a large share of its pupils, half of them girls, attend fee-free at the Trust’s expense. The Trust also supports an orphanage and a medical dispensary in the village.
Community UBF. Community UBF is our programme of support for the communities in which our businesses operate, in Mumbai, Goa, New Delhi and the Gulf. It responds to local needs case by case and complements the work of the Trust.
UBF PhilanthropiesOur family has been part of Mumbai for more than a century, and we take our responsibility to the communities we work in seriously. Giving back has always been part of how we do business.
Arshad S. BalwaChairmanUBF Holdings