In a case impacting thousands of homebuyers and investors, including senior citizens, who put their life savings into premium commercial projects under the global World Trade Center brand, the promise of a completed unit, along with monthly ‘assured returns’, has come to an end. Even after more than a decade and paying nearly 85% of the purchase price, buyers have received neither the promised income nor possession of their units.
Buyers allege that they were sold the concept of so-called ‘unlockable spaces’ to create the illusion of a real estate investment. With their expectations shattered, buyers continue to move from one legal forum to another in a prolonged and uncertain search for justice. Several cases have been filed by buyers in RERA, NCDRC, NCLT and the High Court.
Responding to queries by HT Real Estate, a WTCA spokesperson said that “The WTCA took the necessary actions to terminate WTC Noida Development Company Pvt. Ltd license agreements effective as of February 19, 2025. In May of 2025, the court preliminarily enjoined WTC Noida from using the WTCA brands, and the WTCA is presently pursuing all avenues to require our former member to discontinue all remaining uses of our brands.”
The Enforcement Directorate’s provisional attachment order dated May 2025 showed that the WTC group of companies had received funds totalling Rs. 43,64,02,40,300 from approximately 15,939 customers for various projects across India, namely in Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida, Chandigarh, and Ahmedabad. The data was gathered from the WTC group of companies during searches and statements made under Section 50 of the PMLA, 2002.
Noida’s WTC delays: How many homebuyers are impacted?
In Uttar Pradesh alone, around 10,000 buyers who invested their lifetime savings in WTC projects in Noida and the Greater Noida project have alleged that WTC Noida director Ashish Bhalla defrauded them of approximately ₹2,500 crore.
Around 2,250 investors in Noida have been issued only paper possession of their units, even after completion, while control over leasing, rent collection and maintenance management continues to remain with WTC, as the units are non-lockable and physical possession cannot be handed over. Funds collected from these 2,250 investors amount to about ₹760 crore, the buyers’ legal representative told Hindustan Times Real Estate.
In under-construction or zero-construction projects in Noida, there are 8,120 buyers. According to a report by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, the total funds collected from these incomplete projects amount to around ₹1,908 crore. The information is based on a Delhi High Court order dated January 17, 2023, the legal representative explained.
“Buyers have filed complaints with RERA, the consumer court, the High Court, and the NCLT, but have yet to receive substantial action. Despite several case hearings, there has been no definitive resolution in sight despite our fight,” said a buyer Vipul Gupta.
Buyers indicated that investors in various projects, including WTC Noida CBD, WTC Noida Cubit, WTC Noida One E, WTC Noida Quad, and WTC Noida Riverside Residences, among others, haven’t received their possession.
Bindu Nair, a buyer who invested in World Trade Centre Noida, says she put her hard-earned money into the project, believing it was a strong opportunity backed by an international brand and UPRERA registration. The developer was launching a business centre in Noida, with two additional properties in Tech Zone 1 and Tech Zone 2 already leased to Fortune 500 companies. Under the Builder-Buyer Agreement (BBA), the developer was required to pay assured returns by the 10th of every month. While payments were initially made, they gradually shifted to the 18th or 25th of each month and eventually stopped altogether.
“I put in our lifelong savings, about ₹85 lakh, or 95% of the total amount, leaving the remaining 5% payable at possession. The project promised 12% assured returns and possession by 2024. Given the perceived success of Tech Zone 1 and 2, I felt confident about the investment,” she said, adding that despite the builder collecting the funds, no construction has taken place on the ground.
“It is very disappointing to see that neither WTC nor UP REARA are taking any responsibility. Investors like me who have invested in the WTC brand are now left in a lurch,” said Nair.
According to another buyer, Lt. General A. J. Singh, who has invested his hard-earned savings in three units in a project known as WTC Noida Riverside Residences, located in Greater Noida, the project was registered under RERA in 2017 and was scheduled for delivery by December 2024. It received an extension until June 2025 due to COVID-related delays, but no construction has taken place on the ground.
Gupta, who had invested in WTC CBD, alleges that buyers were promised regular, assured returns on their commercial property investments, which were eventually paid but later stopped.
“The builder arbitrarily stopped payment of assured returns and lease commitment charges after luring us to invest their hard-earned money for the same,” he says.
Both Gupta and Singh allege serious RERA violations across multiple projects, including the sale of “unlockable space” without physical possession, unauthorised withdrawals from RERA-designated accounts, illegal and unauthorised withdrawals of 70% of the funds in RERA-designated accounts for the purpose of siphoning funds or otherwise, and the non-filing of various periodic reports.
Many WTC projects, including WTC CBD, WTC Cubit, WTC Quad, WTIC Riverside Residency, and WTC One-D in Greater Noida, reportedly show almost no construction progress despite negligible balances in their designated accounts, they allege.
Legal experts say assured return schemes often act as a trap for real estate investors, with builders making promises of guaranteed income to lure buyers. Although presented as real estate transactions, these “assured return” models rely on paying investors with funds collected from other investors, rather than from actual project revenues.
Satya Prakash Yadav, advocate representing homebuyers in the WTC matter, explains that in essence, this structure is a ‘Ponzi model,’ as there is no sustainable or legitimate profit source to fund the promised returns.
In most WTC-branded projects, the burden of committed assured returns has reportedly risen to levels where even investor funds collected under the guise of real estate transactions are insufficient to meet payouts to existing investors. As a result, construction activity at many WTC sites has nearly come to a standstill. This situation is reflected in WTC projects registered with UP RERA and other authorities across the country, where bank balances have reportedly fallen to near zero despite minimal construction progress, he explains.
UPRERA project status
According to court documents, in 2022, the UPRERA Authority noted the massive diversion of funds through excessive withdrawals from the designated RERA construction accounts of multiple WTC Group projects. Consequently, UPRERA issued multiple notices, all dated 04.02.2022, thereby, inter alia, directing the petitioner, WTC group, to return the funds diverted from the designated RERA Bank Accounts instead of completing the construction of the projects.
According to the UPRERA website, the WTC Noida CBD project has 3,628 allottees and spans 30,364 sq. m. The project’s original permit date was September 7, 2018, with a scheduled completion on August 26, 2024. Although the permit was later extended to September 7, 2025, no construction has taken place on the site. A report by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs states that ₹604.40 crore was collected from buyers, while only ₹29.80 crore was spent on construction. Just ₹4 lakh remains, and only 10.4% of the project has been completed.
According to the UPRERA website, the WTC One E project has 135 allottees. The original permit date was November 30, 2016, and it has since been extended to November 29, 2026. As per the SFIO report, ₹369.2 crore was collected from buyers, with only ₹5 lakh remaining. Construction on site has been underway, but progress remains far from satisfactory.
According to the UPRERA website, the WTC Noida Quad project has 166 allottees. The original permit date was September 1, 2018, and was later extended to June 30, 2025. However, there has been no construction on site. The SFIO report notes that ₹21.76 crore was collected from buyers, with only ₹12.21 lakh remaining. Despite the extension, no construction activity has taken place.
WTC Noida Riverside Residences in Greater Noida has 249 allottees. The project was registered on July 28, 2017, and its timeline was extended to June 30, 2025, due to COVID-19-related force majeure. However, as per the UPRERA website, there has been no construction on the ground. According to the SFIO report, ₹95.08 crore was collected from buyers, with only ₹2 lakh remaining. No construction activity has taken place on the site.
WTC Noida Cubit has 533 allottees. The original RERA permit date was November 30, 2016, and it has since been extended to November 29, 2026. According to the SFIO report, ₹112.87 crore was collected from buyers, with only ₹14.55 lakh remaining.
URERA did not respond to queries sent by HT Real Estate.
Developer’s modus operandi
According to several court documents, under the ‘assured returns’ scheme, builder Ashish Bhalla allegedly used funds collected from new investors to pay off ‘assured returns’ to old investors. This led to a continuous increase in ‘assured return liability’, which inevitably stalled construction on real estate projects. The model collapsed as soon as new investments dried up, since there was no actual business activity generating the sky-high profits that were promised to investors in the scheme offered by the WTC Group, the documents showed.
In reality, the so-called unlockable spaces were merely a tool to create the impression of a real estate investment, while the WTC group was effectively selling a financial product disguised as property. These ‘unlockable spaces’ neither qualify as an “apartment” under Section 2(e) of the RERA Act, 2016, nor can they be physically handed over to customers as mandated under Sections 4(g), 17(1), 17(2), 19(5), and 19(10) of the Act, the documents showed.
The Serious Fraud Office [SFIO] inspection found that, despite collecting more than Rs. 4,000 crore, completion of projects remains a far cry, as not even a single brick has been laid in seven of the projects. Further, the project engineers/architects’ certificate of the WTC Noida Project showed that barely around 29.81% work has been accomplished, the documents showed.
An email sent to the developer’s legal representative seeking comment did not receive a response. The story will be updated if a response is received.
Major developments so far
In March 2025, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Ashish Bhalla, promoter of WTC Group, on money-laundering charges in connection with a ₹3,000-crore ‘real estate fraud’ case in which thousands of investors were cheated of their hard-earned money.
The same month, the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) terminated 13 licenses held by WTC Noida Development and Spire Techpark due to multiple violations of the agreements.
The move followed an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate into the WTC Group and its promoters, including Ashish Bhalla, Suparna Bhalla, and Abhijeet Bhalla, as well as Bhutani Infra and others, for alleged cheating, criminal breach of trust, and defrauding hundreds of homebuyers.
WTC Noida was a licensee of the iconic World Trade Center brand that is owned by the World Trade Centers Association, Inc. (WTCA), located in New York. “WTCA has not been involved in any way — be it as a partner, shareholder, manager, or participant — with the real estate development projects of WTC Noida or any of WTCA’s other trademark licensees anywhere in the world,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
In May 2025, the Delhi High Court restrained WTC Noida Development and others from using any of the registered trademarks of the World Trade Centres Association (WTCA). The court issued an interim order in response to a petition by WTCA, a renowned worldwide association headquartered in the US, which contended that the defendants continued to use WTC marks even after the termination of the agreement, thereby infringing and passing off the plaintiff’s marks, according to media reports.
