MUMBAI: Stencilled just above the stairs, the red mark in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum is tantamount to an eviction notice for residents like Bipinkumar Padaya.

“I was born here, my father was born here, my grandfather was born here,” sighed the 58-year-old government employee.

“But we don’t have any choice, we have to vacate.”

Soon, bulldozers are expected to rumble into Asia’s largest slum, in the heart of the Indian megalopolis of Mumbai, flattening its labyrinth of filthy alleyways for a brand-new neighbourhood.

The redevelopment scheme, led by Mumbai authorities and billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani, reflects modern India — excessive, ambitious, and brutal.

If it goes ahead, many of Dharavi’s million residents and workers will be uprooted.

“They told us they will give us houses and then they will develop this area,” Padaya said.



“But now they are building their own planned areas and trying to push us out. They are cheating us.”

On the fringes of Dharavi, Padaya’s one-storey home is crammed into a tangle of alleys so narrow that sunlight barely filters through.

Engine room and underbelly

Padaya says his ancestors settled in the fishing village of Dharavi in the 19th century, fleeing hunger and floods in Gujarat, 600 kilometres (370 miles) to the north.

Waves of migrants have since swelled the district until it was absorbed into Mumbai, now home to 22 million people.

Today, the sprawl covers 240 hectares and has one of the highest population densities in the world — nearly 350,000 people per square kilometre.

Homes, workshops and small factories adjoin each other, crammed between two railway lines and a rubbish-choked river.

Over the decades, Dharavi has become both the engine room and the underbelly of India’s financial capital.



Potters, tanners and recyclers labour to fire clay, treat hides or dismantle scrap, informal industries that generate an estimated $1 billion annually.

British director Danny Boyle set his 2008 Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” in Dharavi — a portrayal that residents call a caricature.

For them, the district is unsanitary and poor — but full of life.

“We live in a slum, but we´re very happy here. And we don’t want to leave,” said Padaya.

‘City within a city´

A five-minute walk from Padaya’s home, cranes tower above corrugated sheets shielding construction.

The redevelopment of Dharavi is underway — and in his spacious city-centre office, SVR Srinivas insists the project will be exemplary.

“This is the world´s largest urban renewal project,” said the chief executive of the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP).

“We are building a city within a city. It is not just a slum development project.”

Brochures show new buildings, paved streets, green spaces, and shopping centres.

“Each single family will get a house,” Srinivas promised. “The idea is to resettle hundreds of thousands of people, as far as possible, in situ inside Dharavi itself.”

Businesses will also remain, he added — though under strict conditions.

Families who lived in Dharavi before 2000 will receive free housing; those who arrived between 2000 and 2011 will be able to buy at a “low” rate.

Newer arrivals will have to rent homes elsewhere.

‘A house for a house’

But there is another crucial condition: only ground-floor owners qualify.

Half of Dharavi’s people live or work in illegally built upper floors.

Manda Sunil Bhave meets all requirements and beams at the prospect of leaving her cramped two-room flat, where there is not even space to unfold a bed.

“My house is small, if any guest comes, it is embarrassing for us,” said the 50-year-old, immaculate in a blue sari.

“We have been told that we will get a house in Dharavi, with a toilet… it has been my dream for many years.”

But many of her neighbours will be forced to leave.

Ullesh Gajakosh, leading the “Save Dharavi” campaign, demands “a house for a house, a shop for a shop”.

“We want to get out of the slums… But we do not want them to push us out of Dharavi in the name of development. This is our land.”

Gajakosh counts on the support of local businesses, among them 78-year-old leatherworker Wahaj Khan.

“We employ 30 to 40 people,” he said, glancing around his workshop. “We are ready for development. But if they do not give us space in Dharavi, our business will be finished.”

‘A new Dharavi’

Abbas Zakaria Galwani, 46, shares the same concern.

He and the 4,000 other potters in Dharavi even refused to take part in the census of their properties.

“If Adani doesn´t give us as much space, or moves us somewhere from here, we will lose,” Galwani said.

More than local authorities, it is Adani — the billionaire tycoon behind the conglomerate — who has become the lightning rod for criticism.

His fortune has soared since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014. So it was little surprise when his group won the Dharavi contract, pledging to invest around $5 billion.

Adani holds an 80% stake in the project, with the state government controlling the rest. He estimates the overall cost at $7-8 billion and hopes to complete it within seven years.

He has publicly vowed his “good intent” and promised to create “a new Dharavi of dignity, safety and inclusiveness”.

Sceptics suspect he’s after lucrative real estate.

Dharavi sits on prime land next to the Bandra-Kurla business district — home to luxury hotels, limousine showrooms and high-tech firms.

“This project has nothing to do with the betterment of people’s lives,” said Shweta Damle, of the Habitat and Livelihood Welfare Association.

“It has only to do with the betterment of the business of a few people.”

She believes that “at best” three-quarters of Dharavi residents will be forced to leave.

“An entire ecosystem will disappear,” she warned. “It’s going to be a disaster.”

Indian pharmaceutical stocks declined sharply by up to 5% on Friday following US President Donald Trump’s declaration of imposing 100% tariffs on branded and patent-protected medicines including from India.

India’s Sun Pharma experienced the steepest decline, touching its yearly low at Rs1,547, showing a 5% reduction from its last closing price.

Biocon witnessed a 3.3% fall to Rs344, whilst Zydus Lifesciences declined by 2.8%, settling at Rs990.

Aurobindo Pharma decreased by 2.4% to Rs1,070, and Dr Reddy’s registered a 2.3% decline to Rs1,245.30.

Both Lupin and Cipla saw a 2% reduction, ending at Rs1,923.30 and Rs1,480, respectively.

Torrent Pharma showed the smallest decline of 1.5%, reaching Rs3,480.65.

President Trump on Thursday announced tariffs of up to 100 percent on imports of branded and patented pharmaceutical drugs, starting October 1, 2025.

India’s pharmaceuticals sector, one of the most dependent domestic industries on trade with America, was set to be significantly impacted by the move.

“Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100 percent tariff on any branded or patented pharmaceutical product, unless a company is building their pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in America,” the Republican leader said on Truth Social.

Trump’s posts showed that his devotion to tariffs did not end with the trade frameworks and import taxes that were launched in August. A reflection of the president’s confidence that taxes will help reduce the government’s budget deficit while increasing domestic manufacturing.

In his latest tariff blitz, Trump also slapped 50 percent duty on imports of kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities, 30 percent on upholstered furniture, and 25 percent on heavy trucks.

While Trump did not provide a legal justification for the tariffs, he appeared to stretch the bounds of his role as commander-in-chief by stating that the taxes were needed “for National Security and other reasons.”

America is India’s largest export market for pharmaceutical goods.

In FY 24, of India’s $27.9 billion worth of pharma exports, 31 percent or $8.7 billion (Rs 77,138 crore) went to the US, according to the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India, an industry body.

Another $3.7 billion (Rs 32,505 crore) worth of pharma products were exported in just the first half of 2025.

Per reports, India supplies over 45 percent of generic and 15 percent of biosimilar drugs used in the US.

Firms like Dr Reddy’s, Aurobindo Pharma, Zydus Lifesciences, Sun Pharma and Gland Pharma reportedly earn anywhere from 30-50 percent of their total revenues from the American market.

Although the latest American tariffs appear to mainly target branded and patented drugs a segment dominated by multinational giants uncertainty looms over whether complex generics and speciality medicines from India would also be under the scanner.

Moreover, large players already have manufacturing facilities in the US.

American consumers depend on low-cost generics manufactured in India.

Higher tariffs would lead to price hikes, inflation and drug shortages in the country.

Meanwhile, Indian companies, operating on thin margins in the US generics space, may struggle to absorb costs if tariffs are imposed on them, and end up passing them on to US consumers or insurers.

Trump has already slapped 50 percent tariffs on Indian imports, which also includes a 25 percent ‘penalty’ for continued purchase of Russian oil.

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday rejected Donald Trump’s recent assertion that there was a push to apply Islamic Sharia law in London, calling it “nonsense” and defending London Mayor Sadiq Khan in rare criticism of the US president.

Trump earlier this week at the United Nations delivered a sweeping criticism of immigration policies in Europe. He singled out the UK capital, saying “now they want to go to Sharia law” and calling Khan a “terrible, terrible mayor”.

“The idea of the introduction of Sharia law is nonsense and Sadiq Khan is a very good man,” Starmer told ITV London. He added that there are few things he disagrees with Trump on, “but I’m very clear, this is one of them”.

Khan, who represents Starmer’s centre-left Labour Party, in 2016 became the first Muslim to be elected mayor of London. He has since won two more mayoral elections and has the largest personal mandate of any British politician.

The US president’s comments at the General Assembly were the latest in a long-running public feud between Trump and Khan that goes back to at least 2017, when Khan criticised Trump for pledging a travel ban on a number of majority-Muslim countries.

Starmer, a technocrat and a self-proclaimed socialist, and Trump, a proudly unpredictable Republican, have generally overcome their differences to develop a good working relationship.

Trump’s criticism on Tuesday came only a week after he hailed the US-British relationship during an unprecedented second state visit to Britain that involved royal pomp, including a carriage tour and a white-tie banquet.

Khan responded to Trump’s comments this week by accusing him of being “racist, sexist, misogynistic and Islamophobic.” He pointed to data that shows a record number of Americans are settling in Britain.