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Dharavi is a residential area in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It has often been considered one of the world's largest . Dharavi has an area of just over and a population of about 1,000,000. With a population density of over , Dharavi is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
The Dharavi slum was founded in 1884 during the British colonial era, and grew because of the expulsion of factories and residents from the peninsular city centre by the colonial government, and due to the migration of rural Indians into urban Mumbai. For this reason, Dharavi is currently a highly diverse settlement religiously and ethnically.Sharma, Kalpana; Rediscovering Dharavi: Story From Asia's Largest Slum (2000) – Penguin Books
Dharavi has an active informal economy in which numerous household enterprises employ many of the slum residents—leather, textiles and pottery products are among the goods made inside Dharavi. The total annual turnover has been estimated at over 1 billion.
Dharavi has suffered from many epidemics and other disasters, including a widespread plague in 1896 which killed over half of the population of Bombay.Swaminathan, M. (1995). "Aspects of urban poverty in Bombay." Environment and Urbanization, 7(1), 133–144 Sanitation in the slums remains poor.
The most polluting industries were tanneries, and the first tannery moved from peninsular Bombay into Dharavi in 1887. People who worked with leather, typically a profession of lowest Hindu castes and of Muslim Indians, moved into Dharavi. Other early settlers included the Kumhar, a large Gujarati community of potters. The colonial government granted them a 99-year land-lease in 1895. Rural migrants looking for jobs poured into Bombay, and its population soared past 1 million. Other artisans, like the embroidery workers from Uttar Pradesh, started the ready-made garments trade. These industries created jobs, labor moved in, but there was no government effort to plan or investment in any infrastructure in or near Dharavi. The living quarters and small scale factories grew haphazardly, without provision for sanitation, drains, safe drinking water, roads or other basic services. But some ethnic, caste and religious communities that settled in Dharavi at that time helped build the settlement of Dharavi by forming organizations and political parties, building school and temples, constructing homes and factories. Dharavi's first mosque, Badi Masjid, started in 1887 and the oldest Hindu temple, Ganesh Mandir, was built in 1883 and organizing Ganesh Chaturthi of 112th year since 1913 folloing the Southern Tirunelveli Culture.
There have been many plans since 1997 to redevelop Dharavi like the former slums of Hong Kong such as Tai Hang. In 2004, the cost of redevelopment was estimated to be . The first formal plan for Dharavi’s redevelopment was announced in 2004, but it took the government five years to act on it. When the first tender was finally released in 2009, it saw zero bids which was a sign that developers saw the project as too risky. The tender was cancelled in 2011, and the project stalled once again. Companies from around the world have bid to redevelop Dharavi, including Lehman Brothers, Dubai's Limitless and Singapore's Capitaland Ltd. In 2010, it was estimated to cost to redevelop.
In 2008 German students Jens Kaercher and Lucas Schwind won a Next Generation prize for their innovative redevelopment strategy designed to protect the current residents from needing to relocate.
Other redevelopment schemes include the "Dharavi Masterplan" devised by British architectural and engineering firm Foster + Partners, that proposes "double-height spaces that create an intricate vertical landscape and reflect the community's way of life" built-in phases that the firm says would "eliminate the need for transit camps," instead catalyzing the rehabilitation of Dharavi "from within."
In August 2020, the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) finally decided to cancel the 2018 Dharavi redevelopment tender, citing material changes due to the inclusion of 45 acres of railway land. This decision was based on Attorney General Ashutosh Kumbhkoni’s opinion who advised that a fresh tender was the right way to proceed. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, led by Uddhav Thackeray, approved the cancellation on 29 October 2020, and the Housing Department issued a formal resolution on 5 November 2020. Against GoM’s decision, the Highest Bidder (Seclink) filed a writ petition in the High Court, however, the High Court did not issue any stay for the fresh tender process.
This is how Dharavi Redevelopment Project Private Limited (DRPPL) finally started, founded in. As of April 2024, a survey is being conducted by Adani Group to rehabilitate Dharavi residents for redevelopment. On 20 December 2024, the High Court of Bombay awarded the Adani Group after the SecLink Group tried to sue.
On 8 March 2025 the Supreme Court refused to stay the redevelopment work by Adani group based on the lawsuit by SecLink Group.
NMDPL operates with a strong public-private partnership model: • The Government of Maharashtra holds a 20% stake. • Adani Group holds the remaining 80% and has to bear the responsibility to invest and execute. For the first time in decades, Dharavi’s redevelopment has moved beyond paperwork and politics.
Dharavi’s redevelopment has been nearly two decades in the making pushed now and then due to bureaucratic delays, failed tenders, and concerns over displacement. The land, split between BMC, Indian Railways, and state agencies, saw unplanned settlement growth and demanded immediate course correction. This is when the Government of Maharashtra introduced the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement, Clearance, and Redevelopment) Act of 1971 to rehabilitate the slums rather than displace them. In 1976, the census also attempted to formalize residency through photo passes, but large-scale redevelopment remained elusive.
The western edge of Dharavi is where its original inhabitants, the Kolis, reside. Dharavi consists of various language speakers such as Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi language, Tamil language, Telugu language, and many more. The slum residents are from all over India, people who migrated from rural regions of many different states.Sharma, Kalpana (2000). Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia's Largest Slum. Penguin Books India;
About 29% of the population of Dharavi is Muslim. Dharavi: Mumbai's Shadow City National Geographic (2007) Census Data: India Government of India The Christian population is estimated to be about 6%, History of Dharavi churches Dharavi Deanery (2011) while the rest are predominantly Hindus with some Buddhists and other minority religions. The slum has numerous mosques, temples and churches to serve people of Hindu, Islam and Christian faiths, with Badi Masjid, a mosque, as the oldest religious structure in Dharavi.
Dharavi is considered one of the largest slums in the world. The low-rise building style and narrow street structure of the area make Dharavi very cramped and confined. Like most slums, it is overpopulated.
Dharavi exports goods around the world. Often these consist of various leather products, jewellery, various accessories, and textiles. Markets for Dharavi's goods include stores in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The total (and largely informal economy) turnover is estimated to be between 500 million, and 650 million per year, to over 1 billion per year. The per capita income of the residents, depending on estimated population range of 300,000 to about 1 million, ranges between US$500 and US$2,000 per year.
A few travel operators offer guided tours through Dharavi, showing the industrial and the residential part of Dharavi and explaining about the problems and challenges Dharavi is facing. These tours give a deeper insight into a slum in general and Dharavi in particular.
Cooking gas is supplied in the form of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders sold by state-owned oil companies, as well as through Natural gas supplied by Mahanagar Gas Limited.
There are settlement houses that still do not have legal connections to the utility service and thus rely on illegal connection to the water and power supply which means a water and power shortage for the residents in Dharavi.
Fires and other disasters are common. For example, in January 2013, a fire destroyed many slum properties and caused injuries. Dharavi turns into fireball as flames engulf slum Indian Express (22 January 2013) In 2005, massive floods caused deaths and extensive property damage.Samaddar, S., Misra, B. A., Chatterjee, R., & Tatano, H. (2012). Understanding Community’s Evacuation Intention Development Process in a Flood Prone Micro-hotspot, Mumbai. IDRiM Journal, 2(2)
The COVID-19 pandemic also affected the slum. The first case was reported in April 2020.
Dharavi, Slum for Sale (2009) by Lutz Konermann and Rob Appleby is a German Documentary film. In a programme aired in the United Kingdom in January 2010, Kevin McCloud and Channel 4 aired a two-part series titled Slumming It which centered around Dharavi and its inhabitants. The poem "Blessing" by Imtiaz Dharker is about Dharavi not having enough water. For The Win, by Cory Doctorow, is partially set in Dharavi. In 2014, Belgian researcher Katrien Vankrunkelsven made a 22-minute film on Dharavi which is entitled The Way of Dharavi.
Hitman 2, a video game released in 2018, featured the slums of Mumbai in one of its missions. The Mumbai based video game Mumbai Gullies is expected to feature the slums of Dharavi in the fictional map.
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