HomeLong ReadsHiLITE: Building Keralam, brick by brick

HiLITE: Building Keralam, brick by brick

Joe Mathew
/8 min read
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This story belongs to the issue:
July 2026
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This story belongs to the Fortune India Magazine July 2026 issue.

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The Kozhikode-headquartered real estate company plans to develop over 50 million sq. ft spanning its World Trade Center project, business parks, IT parks, residential communities, integrated townships, retail destinations and more across the state by 2030. What makes it tick?  

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HiLITE: Building Keralam, bric
For HiLITE Group chairman P. Sulaiman, the goal is to be the first in the state in everything the group does. Credits: Rejoy Krishnan
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IT TOOK AROUND three months for the New York-headquartered World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) to approve the licence application submitted by Keralam-based HiLITE Group to brand one of its upcoming mega commercial real estate projects in Kozhikode as a World Trade Center (WTC). The association, which connects more than 300 such licensed WTC locations across nearly 100 countries and territories, issues licences to “the best of qualified candidates for a limited number of licence opportunities”, says Scott Wang, vice president, Asia Pacific, WTCA.

Six months after HiLITE got the licence in 2025, WTCA representatives, on a visit to the construction site of WTC Kozhikode, were in for a surprise. “Normally, it takes several years for a licensee to complete a WTC. When WTCA representatives visited us they found we had completed the first tower within six months of receiving the licence,” says P. Sulaiman, chairman, HiLITE Group.