1. MR. AVTAR SINGH SETHI
PROMOTER DIRECTOR – M/s RainForest Hospitality Pvt. Ltd
Mr. Avtar Singh Sethi, popularly known among his relatives & vast circle of
friends as “Rana” Sethi, is a prominent businessman from Suburban
Mumbai – more specifically the Andheri East area of Mumbai.
Hailing from an illustrious family of businessmen & philanthropists from
Punjab, he is a pillar of the local Sikh community, based in the Sher-e-
Punjab Society, off Mahakali Caves Road at Andheri East, Mumbai.
Mr. Rana Sethi began his business career early in life when his illustrious
father – Sardar Harnam Singh Sethi – motivated both him and his brother
to focus their attentions on trading activities involving various segments
such as industrial parts, automobile spare parts, real estate, and finally
their core business – automobile trading.
Having done considerable amount of trading in used cars and garnering
tremendous success and fame in the trade as prudent & ethical
businessmen, both brothers together with their father decided to
consolidate all their automobile trading activities under one brand, and
thus came to being what became a legendary name in the auto trade in
Mumbai – Popular Car Bazaar.
Mr. Sethi and his family established their business at Chakala Naka, Andheri
East, thereby strategically placing their establishment right at the hub of
the Andheri-Kurla Road, which actually used to be the primary arterial
road connecting suburban Mumbai to the then new developing areas such
as Saki Naka, Ghatkopar, Powai, Vikhroli, etc., and there-n to Dist. Thane
which includes Navi (New) Mumbai on one side and the vast Thane area on
the other.
Thus, over a glorious period of twenty years the business grew in leaps &
bounds, soon to be known as the single largest player in the passenger car
re-selling market, dealing in Used, New as well as imported cars.
The famous Slogan at Popular Car bazaar being – “Walk in – Drive out”,
Popular Car Bazar became perhaps the first car trader to have Sales, Basic
Services, Insurance, Registration Services, and also various options of Auto
Financing, all under one roof.
Soon several automobile majors approached Popular for appointing them
as their authorized dealers to exclusively sell their products, only to be
politely turned down, as the basic growth “manthra” of the organization
was to not to be tied down with one single product, but to provide

2. maximum variety of products to customers to suit their discerning tastes &
budgets, all under one roof – thereby fully justifying their bottom-line –
“Walk – in, Drive – out”.
Soon many other upstart entrepreneurs, on observing the tremendous
success of Popular Car Bazar, hit upon the idea of setting up their own
outfits across Mumbai on the similar guidelines & systems patented &
established primarily by Mr. Rana Sethi with his tremendous intuition and
foresight, and on observing this sudden mushrooming of many such auto
trading set-ups, Mr. Sethi decided that it was time to diversify and establish
themselves in a more lucrative trade with a quicker turnaround and much
greater returns – The Realty Business.
Thus was born M/s Popular Buildcon Realty – an enterprise with primary
focus on investing in prime properties and then either leasing them out or
selling them off outright at the right time.
Needless to mention, this enterprise too grew with tremendous momentum,
thanks again to the prudence & foresight always exercised by Mr. Sethi in
all his business ventures.
During the course of this business, sometime about 4 years ago Mr. Sethi
acquired a vast tract of land in the lap of the serene & beautiful Sahyadri
Hills range at Igatpuri, Maharashtra, just three kilometers off the Mumbai –
Nashik NH-03 Expressway. The idea behind this acquisition was to develop
a classy & full service holiday destination on par with the best on offer
within the country – and thus started the construction of what is now
known as the already famous & popular RainForest Resort, Igatpuri.
Mr. Sethi hired the best talent in the business to design, and build a
landmark property, sparing no expense in transforming an otherwise hilly
but beautiful wilderness into a Paradise for upmarket holidaymakers who
had always wanted a great place to relax & unwind in serene solitude and
sublime quietness, yet located close by to Mumbai, and other principal
destinations such as Nashik City, Shirdi, Trimbakeshwar, etc.
The situation today is that holidaymakers from Mumbai & Pune, the two
prime commercial & industrial hubs of India, have become totally bored of
going to the same destinations of Lonavla, Khandala & Mahabaleshwar,
besides some of the lesser known resort destinations st Silvassa, Khanvel,
etc., in nearby Gujarat, and lo behold ! – Igatpuri was the perfect answer
and alternative as a new holiday travel hub in Maharashtra, situated just 2
hours from Mumbai. All that was required was a perfect holiday resort
property which would be on par in quality, size & service with some of the
great resorts at Lonavla, Mahabaleshwar, etc., and thus Mr. Rana Sethi
created RainForest Resort at Igatpuri, Maharashtra.