From Legacy to Leadership: Ashiana Housing’s Next Chapter

In the final post of our three-part series on Ashi­ana Hous­ing, we look at how the next gen­er­a­tion of lead­er­ship stepped into their own after the loss of their icon­ic founder. Ashi­ana is a pur­pose-led real estate devel­op­er that builds thriv­ing com­mu­ni­ties — and puts their mon­ey where their mouth is by main­tain­ing their prop­er­ties long after the sale, keep­ing the orig­i­nal pur­pose alive.

Lega­cy is a beau­ti­ful thing. But it can become a trap.

When Om Gup­ta, founder of Ashi­ana Hous­ing, passed away, he left more than a busi­ness. He left a giant shad­ow. The man could walk a dusty site and see an entire thriv­ing com­mu­ni­ty in his mind. He was vision­ary. Empa­thet­ic. Relentless.

And he was the glue.

After his pass­ing, the ques­tion wasn’t just how to move for­ward — but how to lead with­out try­ing to be him.

Each broth­er had to forge their own path. Vishal brought struc­ture and scale to ensure the busi­ness could grow beyond intu­ition. Ankur reshaped the brand around empa­thy, com­mu­ni­ty, and emo­tion­al expe­ri­ence. Varun dou­bled down on the legal and finan­cial rig­or need­ed to grow responsibly.

But the jour­ney wasn’t just strate­gic — it was deeply emotional.

For a long time, the broth­ers wres­tled with self-doubt and grief. The lead­er­ship seat didn’t come with a roadmap, just expec­ta­tions. Ankur spoke open­ly about the strug­gle of find­ing his voice: ​“It took me years to fig­ure out where I belonged.”

And as they each stepped for­ward, they had to reassess what to keep — and what to let go.

Their father’s charis­ma and vision were leg­endary, but some­times details were missed, and exe­cu­tion suf­fered. Vishal led the charge in tight­en­ing oper­a­tions. Ankur gave the brand warmth and res­o­nance. Varun put a sol­id foun­da­tion under every major move.

Togeth­er, they formed a new kind of lead­er­ship — not inher­it­ed, but earned.

The result is a busi­ness that hon­ors its past while mov­ing deci­sive­ly toward the future. Ashi­ana has not only pre­served its core — it’s expand­ed, inno­vat­ed, and evolved, with new com­mu­ni­ties, enhanced senior liv­ing expe­ri­ences, and strong per­for­mance met­rics across the board.

They didn’t just con­tin­ue a lega­cy. They trans­formed it.

The Chal­lenge: 

• What part of your lead­er­ship is pre­serv­ing lega­cy at the expense of progress? Where do you need to stop repli­cat­ing and start rewriting?

Inter­est­ed in learn­ing more? Read our recent­ly pub­lished case study about Ashi­ana Hous­ing here or watch the full inter­view below.

Resources:

• Lead­ing Side by Side: The Pow­er of Trust and Tension
• Design­ing for Dig­ni­ty: Why Ashi­ana Reimag­ined Senior Liv­ing in India
• Leav­ing Room to Learn
• Suc­ces­sion: Plan­ning & Ensur­ing the Future of a Business

About Ashi­ana Housing

Found­ed by the late Om Prakash Gup­ta in 1979, Ashi­ana Hous­ing has grown from a bold exper­i­ment into one of India’s most respect­ed real estate brands. Om Gup­ta pio­neered mid­dle-income hous­ing and retire­ment com­mu­ni­ties in India, dri­ven by an uncom­pro­mis­ing vision: to build homes — not just build­ings — where peo­ple could live with dig­ni­ty, com­mu­ni­ty, and pride. His lega­cy lives on through Ashiana’s award-win­ning devel­op­ments, deep cus­tomer loy­al­ty, and val­ues-dri­ven lead­er­ship. Today, his sons Vishal, Ankur, and Varun con­tin­ue to lead the com­pa­ny with the same heart, but a voice all their own.