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From a $1B market-cap market darling to a wipeout, this conversation traces how Pujit Aggarwal - former MD & CEO of Orbit Corporation, a Mumbai-based luxury real estate developer that went public via an IPO - thinks about ambition, decision-making, and rebuilding after a steep reversal. Orbit, once a listed company, was ordered to be wound up by the Bombay High Court in April 2018 after it failed to repay debts; reporting around the same period cites liabilities exceeding ₹1,380 crore, which is roughly $150 million at current exchange rates.

Across the interview, he explains Orbit’s original thesis - premium South/Central Mumbai redevelopment with unusually high quality standards - alongside what he describes as the drivers of distress: regulatory delays, high-cost debt, and expanding into larger, more capital-intensive land acquisitions. He frames the difficult period as something to “own,” likening it to a pilgrimage that required endurance, acceptance, and persistence, and says his “second innings” in real estate is now underway. He also reflects on how success has shifted for him over time - from wealth-first to prioritizing relationships, health/spirituality, and then business—and emphasizes OPM as a major inflection point in his learning and worldview.

Here are the Top 10 Takeaways from the conversation:

1. Chaptered career view: He frames his life in “10-year blocks,” each with distinct lessons - early work, OPM learning, peak public-market years, loss/rebuild, and a new phase ahead.
2. What he credits for early momentum: A mix of market understanding (South/Central Mumbai), redevelopment opportunity, and a deliberate bet on premium product positioning.
3. Quality as a strategy choice: He repeatedly prioritizes durability/materials and long-term build quality, arguing the “bottom line will follow quality.”
4. Where he locates the inflection: He attributes the downturn to a combination of policy/regulatory friction, high-cost debt, and shifting from smaller redevelopment plots to larger acquisitions once financing access improved.
5. Cash-flow timing matters as much as demand: Even in a market where “anything sells,” he points to stalled construction and delayed revenues creating a severe cash-flow mismatch.
6. Mindset under pressure: His coping frame is not denial or bargaining; it’s acceptance (“own the issue”) and endurance, described through the “pilgrimage” metaphor.
7. Regulation: clearer, not simpler: He argues the regime has improved with greater disclosure and structure (he compares approvals to IPO-level disclosure), while still warning that gray areas and surprises remain.
8. Title diligence as a core operator skill: He treats clean title as non-negotiable and suggests digitization has improved speed and access to information, but places responsibility on the developer to get to “100%.”
9. Litigation preference: He advocates for commercial settlement, sitting across the table, rather than spending years in court, presenting negotiation as the practical path.
10. Founder advice: protect baseline cash flows + preserve the core idea: His guidance is to secure steady cash flows for essentials (salaries, basic needs) while resisting over-dilution of the original entrepreneurial vision from too many external opinions.