M F Husain's works may fetch Rs 300 crore

Maqbool Fida Husain's latest series of paintings, 'Our Planet Called Earth', is likely to fetch Rs 300 crore from the overseas market.

Mumbai-based industrialist and Swarup Group of Industries chief Guru Swarup Srivastava, who acquired the rights to 100 paintings in the series for Rs 100 crore, will auction them in London and Dubai.

"We are definitely going to get three times more than what we invested in Husain's paintings. We are expecting $1 million for each painting," Srivastava said on Tuesday.

He said the group had already started promoting the paintings abroad. "An exhibition was held in Paris recently and we have tied up with Bharti Tele Venture for enabling Airtel customers to download these paintings as wallpapers," Srivastava said.

"I have taken possession of 25 paintings and the rest 75 will be over by September 2005. The auction will be completed by March 2006. I have received proposals for auction from Amsterdam also," he said.

The major part of the auction money will go to charity, he added.

"We will be giving Rs 1 crore to the makers of Oscar-nominated Marathi movie Shwaas for promotions in Los Angeles," he said.

Recently, Srivastava had bought nine paintings from Marathi painter Prakash Bhende for a lakh each.