The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has leased a luxury five-bedroom apartment in Mumbai’s upmarket Prabhadevi area for its new chairman, Tuhin Kanta Pandey. The apartment, in Rustomjee Crown Tower, comes at a monthly rent starting from Rs 7 lakh, according to property registration documents.
Pandey, who took charge as Sebi chief on March 1, 2025, following the end of Madhabi Puri Buch’s term, will be living in the apartment under a three-year lease arrangement. Over this period, the regulator will pay a total of Rs 2.65 crore in rent.
The rental agreement specifies a monthly rent of Rs 7 lakh for the first year, Rs 7.35 lakh for the second, and Rs 7.71 lakh for the third year. The deal includes a security deposit of Rs 42 lakh, a 12-month lock-in, and was registered on September 3, 2025. A stamp duty of Rs 69,500 and a registration fee of Rs 1,000 was also paid for the transaction.
The apartment is about a half-hour drive from Sebi’s Bandra Kurla Complex office and comes with four parking spaces. It was leased from an individual named Vijay Shrishrimal.
According to an Economics Times report, Sebi said the arrangement was in line with its Board-approved policy, which provides leased accommodation to its chairman, whole-time members, executive directors, and other officers.
“The size of the premise and the lease amount in this particular instance is within the approved limit. Additionally, the lease amount was determined in line with a valuation report of a leading property valuer,” the regulator said in a statement.
Such high-end rentals are not unusual in Mumbai's real estate market. According to data from the Maharashtra Inspector General of Registration (IGR), over 300,000 rental or leave-and-license agreements are registered in the city every year across multiple categories, including residential, commercial, and retail spaces.
Around 190,000 agreements were signed in the first half of 2024, clocking a 13 per cent jump from the same period in previous year (2023).
