Nariman Point

Nariman Point is a business district in Downtown Mumbai. Formerly the prominent business district on India's west coast, Nariman Point yielded that status to Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla Complex in 2010. Prior to Nariman Point's development, Mumbai's business centre was at Ballard Estate, which like Nariman Point also was built on land reclaimed from the sea.Located on the southern tip of the Mumbai peninsula, at the end of the Mumbai's Marine Drive, Nariman Point is named after Khursheed Framji Nariman, a municipal corporator who had initiated the area's development as an extension to the Back Bay reclamation. Nariman Point houses some of India's prestigious business headquarters, and despite its decline (see below), it remains one of the more expensive business districts in India, exceeded only by Delhi's Connaught Place and since April 2012 by Mumbai's own Bandra-Kurla Complex.HistoryPrior to 1940, the area was part of the Arabian sea. A popular leader of the Congress, Khurshed Nariman (affectionately called Veer Nariman), a Bombay Municipal Corporation corporator, proposed to reclaim the area from the sea near Churchgate. To accomplish this task, the shallow seafront was filled with debris from various parts of the city. Reinforced concrete cement was also used, the steel for which had to be purchased on the black market at higher prices due to World War II.The entire cost was estimated to be. Additional reclamations were carried out in the 1970s. A construction boom in that decade also led to the development of commercial high-rises in the area.