Hyderabad: Inflation and rising costs have done little to deter laddu auction bidders at gated communities in Hyderabad, as bids continue to run into lakhs on the seventh day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.While the show is not over yet, with auctions at Keerthi Richmond Villas and My Home Bhooja – which fetched the highest bids in previous years, with laddus going for crores of rupees – scheduled for Sept 23, My Home Avatar has so far recorded the highest bid this year.The laddu was sold for ₹8.2 lakh, marginally higher than the ₹8.1 lakh bid last year. The bid was ₹7.51 lakh in 2024 and ₹7.50 lakh in 2023, while the first auction at the community had fetched ₹10.65 lakh.The winning bidder this year was Ravindra Reddy, a real estate businessman, who has also won the auction at My Home Avatar for the past two years, said Resident Welfare Association member Karthik Kotamraju.The trend remained similar across several communities, with most reporting only marginal increases this year.Ravi Shanker, president of the Federation of Gated Communities Cyberabad (FGCC), said bids at other major gated communities had so far ranged from ₹2.8 lakh to ₹7 lakh, with the average at around ₹5 lakh.Similarly, the laddu at My Home Vihanga went for ₹4.2 lakh, while Aparna Towers fetched ₹2 lakh. Others in a similar range included Minakshi Skylounge, where the laddu went for ₹3.2 lakh.While most reported marginal increases, for some, this year’s auction was an exception. At Rajapushpa Eterna, the laddu fetched ₹1.6 lakh, compared with ₹30,000 last year. An RWA representative attributed the rise to the community’s expanding resident base.“Ours is a relatively new community and families are moving in frequently. More families are coming to stay here, so more people are participating. That is largely the reason behind the increase,” said Janagama Raji Reddy, Rajapushpa RWA member.The money raised through the laddu auction generally goes towards charity and community welfare. “All of the money that we get through the laddu auction goes into charity for community welfare. If there is still some money left, it generally goes into the community fund,” Shanker said.While bids continue to run into lakhs, residents said the number of serious bidders remains limited. “There are very few bidders. There are usually one or two serious bidders and very few participants overall,” said Karthik Kotamraju of My Home Avatar.
