MD
Prestige Group
Irfan Razack founded the Prestige Group in 1985 and today, the company has completed several million sq. ft. of world-class real estate development across the residential, commercial, retail, leisure and hospitality sectors in cities including Hyderabad, Kochi, Mangalore, Mysore, Goa and Chennai, besides Bangalore. The Group’s businesses also include Property Management Services and Interior Design. Currently, the market capital of the listed company is over Rupees 6000 crores.
The Prestige Group boasts of several national and international innovations today that are landmark initiatives lauded and emulated by many.
UB City: The Collection – India’s first true luxury mall (Partnered initiative with Vijay Mallya – UB Group)
Forum Mall – Globally-recognised today and probably the first successful retail mall in the country
which created new benchmarks in modern day retailing.
Forum Value Mall – India’s first real outlet mall featuring international and national brands
Prestige Golfshire – Bangalore’s first residential golf development featuring a 18-hole champion-sized golf course (one of the best in India) & the Marriott International Hotel
Prestige Acropolis – A tribute to Greek architecture, one of the first Premium residential developments in Bangalore
Prestige Ozone – First residential gated community in Bangalore
Prestige Shantiniketan – Bangalore’s first wholly integrated township
Built in association with the UB Group and totalling an impressive 1 million sq. ft., UB City is the biggest mixed-use development in Bangalore’s Central Business District till date. This custom-designed; world-class mega structure comprises of four medium and high-rise buildings and is one of the first developments in Bangalore to combine commercial offices, a luxury mall, serviced residences, restaurants, food courts and cafes in one secure and well articulated composition. UB City’s eye-catching pinnacle puts its total height at 127 meters, making it one of the tallest structures in the city.
Among the many hats he dons, Razack is also recognized for his successful initiatives in hospitality where he has been credited with introducing leading brands in the country such as the Hilton Group and Marriott International for hotels; the Banyan Tree for resorts; and Oakwood for service apartments. His world-class projects have also attracted renowned clients such as Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, IBM and Cisco to name a few.
Irfan Razack supports several philanthropic causes. The Prestige Group, through the State Govt, has supported the Akshaya Patra program, by “adopting” 568 school children at the Government Urdu High School at D J Halli (off Tannery Road) in Bangalore to provide them hygienically cooked mid-day meals. Prestige has also partnered with St. John’s Hospital, Bangalore for their Vision 20-20 programme (a mobile eye camp active in the rural areas) and donated vision-testing equipment. The Prestige Group also actively works with the Government agencies, assisting them in road development, landscaping and beautification activities to create a cleaner and greener Bangalore. Razack’s active involvement in the society, led him to institute the widely acclaimed ‘Prestige Citizen Extraordinaire Award’ in association with Rotary Midtown, to honour citizens of Bangalore who have contributed selflessly. Previous recipients of this award include Mr. NR. Narayanamurthy, Dr. Devi Shetty, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Mr. Nandan Nilekani and more recently, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Razack’s dream of contributing more towards the education segment led to the ‘Educate India Foundation’, another Prestige initiative through which Razack co-founded the Inventure Academy (estb. 2005), a leading K-12 International School in Bangalore.
Razack was also the Honorary Secretary of Al Ameen Education Society for 21 years.
His voluntary social responsibilities included the post of President of the Bangalore Commercial Association (BCA), CREDAI and the Karnataka Ownership Apartments Promoter’s Association, where he was lauded for his efforts in bringing about transparency and better benefits for the consumer. An active member of the Rotary Club of Bangalore, Midtown his contributions have been recognized through a Paul Harris Fellowship.
He has also served as Vice-President of CREDAI National. He is a familiar face in prominent industry body meets and is often called upon as a special invitee to the Southern Regional Council of CII. As a student leader at St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bangalore he was the driving force behind many a laurel won by it. In recognition of his achievements, the St. Joseph’s Old Boys Association has honoured him with the Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also received recognition from the United Nations University International’s Leadership Academy (UNU/ILA) in Jordan.
Under Razack’s leadership, the Prestige Group has won several national and international awards including the prestigious FIABCI Prix d’Excellence on three occasions. The company has won a plethora of awards this year, including 10 Asia Pacific Property Awards 2013-14 across the residential, commercial and leisure segments and 4 Asia Pacific Hotel Awards 2013-14, apart from 5 Indian Realty Awards 2013 including ‘Developer of the year’. The Forum mall, Koramangala – Bangalore’s first mall was awarded the ‘IMAGES Most Admired Shopping Centre of the Year’.
