What makes Delhi Gymkhana Club so elite: Rs 200 crore in mutual funds, Rs 129 crore net worth and a powerful legacy

NEW DELHI: Delhi Gymkhana Club - which reported a 10-fold jump in surplus or profits to Rs 9.5 crore during 2023-24 from Rs 93 lakh in the previous year - had a net worth of nearly Rs 129 crore and liquid funds to deal with possible threats of land lease not being renewed by the Centre or because of the cases filed by the ministry of corporate affairs, its auditor had said.

According to the latest period for which data is available on the ministry of corporate affairs website, for the high-profile club, a section 8 or a not-for-profit entity, the key source of revenue was the Rs 43 crore earned from restaurants, bar and banquet during the year.





It had investments of Rs 162 crore at the end of March, 2024 and the market value of mutual funds added up to Rs 217 crore. The investment strategy was clearly conservative with the largest holdings being in Aditya Birla Sun Life Corporate Bond Fund (Rs 18.7 crore face value), followed by Kotak Corporate Bond Fund (Rs 14.2 crore), ICICI Pru Corporate Bond Fund (Rs 13.5 crore) and ICICI Pru Banking and PSU Debt Fund (Rs 11 crore).

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Over Rs 24 crore was invested in bank fixed deposits with over 12-month maturity, while bank balance on March 31, 2024 was over Rs 2 crore.

In terms of liabilities, it had Rs 11.2 crore as security deposit from members and another Rs 24.5 crore as application money.

The auditor pointed out that the urban development ministry's Land & Development Office (L&DO) had demanded an enhanced ground rent of Rs 24.7 crore, starting April 2018.

While the club had 5,018 permanent members and 27 life members, it had close to 3,000 UCP (user of club premises) members and over 5,000 green card holders - the two segments which became the main source of grievance for those waiting in queue to gain membership, which stretched to four decades in the case of private individuals. The grouse was that children of permanent members (provided they were below a prescribed age when the parents received membership) managed to sneak in as dependents and subsequently became green card holders before turning UCP holders.

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In addition, there were 93 eminent category members, 80 corporate members, 1,323 lady subscribers and one diplomat and a solitary temporary member, taking the total base to 14,547 at the end of March 2024.

The auditor, AVA & Associates, noted that audited accounts for 2020-21 to 2022-23 could not be approved by the members, although they were filed with the registrar of companies.

The elite club has also been in news for strong factionalism on part of members of defence services and civil servants, which came to the forefront in every election, embezzlement of funds and mismanagement.

Govt agencies had also accused the club of drifting away from its original objective of promoting various sports and pastimes. Centre had even gone to the extent of calling out the earlier general committee of club for turning DGC from a “vyayamshaala to a madhushaala” in an appeal before National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) while seeking appointment of a govtnominated committee.