The house that Razack built

A small fabrics retail and tailoring shop grows to be a huge construction business

- Sekhar Seshan

When Razack Sattar set up prestige house for men in 1956, to sell fabrics and provide tailoring services, little did he know what his small business would grow to become. in the next two decades, his two sons Irfan and Rezwan joined hands with him in running the store on Bangalore’s busy commercial street. In the mid-1980s, they extended the brand name to real estate – and embarked on a massive growth path. Today, the R 4,718-crore prestige group has completed 200 projects in the residential, commercial, retail, leisure, hospitality and education segments with a developed area totalling 65 million sq ft and an equal area under development.

The brand name, and the logo they created when they extended it into construction, stands for trust, says Irfan Razack, chairman & managing director. And the tagline of we deliver more than we promise is something that he, his younger brother Rezwan and the rest of the prestige team live up to in every aspect. “our whole premise is for the buyers of our property to add prestige to their lives!” the CMD says. “we keep delivering on our promises to all our stakeholders – customers, investors and employees. The quality, trust and reliability that the name stands for is an assurance that we won’t run away!” others in the industry agree: “they are a highly reputable and dependable company under excellent leadership,” says jitu virwani, managing director, embassy group. “but we are in two different segments, so we are not competitors.”