Atul Ruia and Family

Phoenix Mills converted defunct textile mill land in central Mumbai into retail destinations. The mills are gone; the value they created is permanent.

Phoenix Mills traces its origins to the cotton textile industry of early-20th-century Mumbai. When the textile mills of central Mumbai closed over the 1980s and 1990s, the land they occupied became available for redevelopment, and some of it became among the most commercially valuable urban real estate in the country. Atul Ruia, the third-generation chairman, converted the defunct mill lands into High Street Phoenix, one of Mumbai's first large-format retail destinations, in 2001. The subsequent development of the Phoenix brand into a national portfolio of integrated retail and commercial complexes has made the family one of the more significant retail real estate developers in India.

Phoenix Mills operates properties in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and other cities, typically developing large mixed-use destinations that combine high-street retail, food and beverage, multiplex cinemas and office spaces within the same project. Sharanya and Shailja Ruia are being groomed for leadership, taking on responsibility for a portfolio that has grown substantially beyond the original Mumbai mill land and now requires managing construction pipelines, tenant relationships and institutional capital partnerships simultaneously.