Shahid Usman Balwa is an entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 based in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He is one of the Promoters

Promoter (entertainment)

An entertainment promoter i.e. music, wrestling, boxing etc is a person or company in the business of marketing and promoting live events such as concerts/gigs, boxing matches, sports entertainment , festivals, raves, and nightclubs.- Business model :Promoters are typically hired as independent...

 of Mumbai-based DB Group which runs DB Realty India's 3rd largest realtor, DB Hospitality and Swan Telecom (now Etisalat DB Telecom).

Early life

Shahid Balwa hails from the Chilya Sunni Muslim community, and his forefathers were from Gujarat

Career

Balwa dropped out of college and entered the family's hotel business. His father, Usman, started Balwa's restaurant at Marines Lines and Balwa's Hotel at Mumbai Central. He partnered with billionaire real estate developer Vinod Goenka to form DB Realty

DB Realty

DB Realty is one of India's largest real estate developer based in Mumbai, and is the flagship company of DB Group DB Realty Limited builds residential, commercial and gated community developments...

 in 2006. In a few years, the construction company claimed to have 21000000 square feet (1,950,963.8 m²) of saleable area in ongoing projects and another 40000000 square feet (3,716,121.6 m²) in upcoming projects. **

Forbes Billionaire

Shahid Balwa, is the youngest Indian to feature on the Forbes List and is amongst the 10 youngest billionaires in the world. He was ranked by Forbes

Forbes

Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

as India's 50th richest man in 2010.

Alleged involvement in 2G scam and subsequent arrest

Shahid Balwa was arrested by the CBI on February 9, 2011 on the allegation that DB group transferred Rs.200 crore to a media company owned by members of DMK party. Former Telecom minister A. Raja allegedly helped Swan bag licences for 13 circles, including Mumbai and Delhi, for Rs. 1,537 crore. DB realty is one among the companies that bagged 2G licenses in 2008. DB Reality floated Swan Telecom. The CBI also arrested two executives on Mar 29, 2011 including the brother of Shahid Balwa. Asif Balwa is the brother of Shahid Balwa. A Delhi high-court on November 29, 2011 accepted the bail plea of Shahid Balwa and other under-trails.

Charitable Work

His charitable activities are in the field of health and education. They include the Balwas High School and Charitable Medical Institution in Phirozpura, Gujarat. In the next 10 years he is keen to turn this into sizeable educational institution which can take in 20,000 students.