Interview with Mr Pradeep Jain, Chairman, Parsvanath Developers from New Delhi and many more developers from the country.

1. BUILDERS
Cover Story
INDIA’S TOP
Pradeep Jain, Chairman, Parsvnath Developers Limited
18
Developers need
to offer a judicial
blend of luxury,
mid income and
affordable houses
March – April 2010
▲ Construction & Architecture Magazine

2. Cover Story
BUILDERS
Cover Story
Pradeep Jain, Chairman, Parsvnath Developers Ltd talks to C&A on the company and
the sheds light on the real-estate industry
How has been your journey emerging as one of the most
progressive and multi-faceted real estate and construction
entities in the country?
The journey has been eventful for Parsvnath Developers
Ltd. The company has witnessed the upward and downturn
cycle of the sector. In the boom times, it has witnessed
mammoth growth and emerged as the leading organised
real estate developing company. In the downturn, when
there were concerns raised about the sustainability of the
real estate developers. Parsvnath Developers Ltd sustained
that downturn and is now accelerating towards its growth
trajectory.
Currently how many projects are you developing in the
residential space? What is the total area of development?
Where?
The company has projects in various verticals across India
with developable area of over 193 mn sq ft and has started
development and construction of 57 projects on 79.88 mn
sq ft. The company is aggressively working on 42 mn sq ft
out of which 35.16 mn sq ft is already pre booked and is
moving ahead towards its objective of handing over
approximately 30 mn sq ft within 24 months.
Totally what is your land bank position both commercial
and residential space? How do raise funds for your
projects. Any mergers and acquisitions? Tell us more
about the same.
INDIA’S TOP
P
arsvnath Developers Ltd with pan India presence
across 47 cities in 16 states has diversified
portfolio which includes, integrated townships,
group housing, commercial complexes, hotels, IT
parks, BOT Projects, SEZs and others. As on
date, the company has 98 ongoing projects and a total
developable area of over 193 million sq ft across all real
state verticals.
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March – April 2010
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Out of the total 79.88 million sq
ft area 80 is residential and the
remaining is commercial. Fund
raising is done majorly through
internal accruals and also FDI route
via selling project stake at SPV level.
Recently leading investment
management firms, Redfort Capital
bought 22 percent stake in Parsvnath
La Tropicana, a premium residential
project in Delhi for an investment of
Rs 1,150 million and SUN-Apollo
another international real estate
private equity fund bought 50
percent stake in Parsvnath Exotica
Part II, Gurgaon, Haryana for an
investment of Rs 750 million.
What is your view on luxurious
housing segment and second
homes?
Luxury housing caters to niche
section of society whereas the
affordable and mid income housing
projects cater to masses. Hence a
developer cannot concentrate only
on luxurious housing projects only
and has to offer a judicial blend of
premium, mid income and
affordable housing. The trend of
second homes is catching up soon
and people are buying homes in
cities other than their place of
residence.
March – April 2010
Tell us more about your housing
project in Ranchi?
We have won the bid to develop a
city centre in Ranchi in Jharkhand in
year 2007, however since the state
govt was not able to give us the land
possession, we have asked them to
refund our money and the process is
on and we are hoping that the
matter will be resolved soon. At the
moment, this is all what we can say
about Ranchi project.
What concrete steps government
has taken for the clearance of the
stalled projects in the currently?
We have already requested the
state govt. in respective states of UP
and Jharkhand to monetise the
delayed projects and seeking refunds.
What do you have to say about the
realty sector? Why has it been a
laggard area? What reform will
prevent the mushrooming of entry
▲ Construction & Architecture Magazine
of unauthorised and unscrupulous
developers?
The realty sector is the backbone
of the Indian economy and is the
second largest employer. It has never
been a laggard area as it also provides
sustenance to a number of other
ancillary industries as well. There
should be a real estate regulator for
the sector to control the malpractices
adopted by the unorganised
developers and to bring about
transparency into the system.
What new trends can we see in the
real-estate sector in coming days?
What are your expectations?
We believe that the year 2010
would be a year of global recovery.
This recovery will bring along with it
stability in economies across the
globe. This will in turn bring about
stability in the job market which will
ensure higher disposable incomes of
households that will lead to higher
demand for real estate products on
offer. However, it is pertinent to note
that the projects need to be designed
as per customers' demands and
requirements. Also, the developers
need to offer a judicial blend of
luxury, mid income and affordable
houses and need to offer projects at
easily accessible locations. ■

3. BUILDERS
Cover Story
Cover Story
Hiranandani a trend setter for revolutionising the real-estate market with first fully
functioning integrated township in India. Surendra Hiranandani, Founder & MD,
Hiranandani Upscale Group speaks to Remona Divekar on the realistic issues concerning
the India real-estate industry
H
iranandani Group is a trend setter for
development and revolutionising the real estate
market with the first fully functioning integrated
township in India. Hiranandani stands for India's diverse
conglomerate that spells quality , trust and value-added
engineering result of continuous innovation, passion for
excelling and ability to adopt newer and
better technologies and materials.
Hiranandani Upscale is the new and
exciting venture established by
Surendra Hiranandani to expand the
brand beyond the cities of
Mumbai and Thane. Akin
to the core values of the
Hiranandani Group
Upscale aims to
create
communities
that provides
great value through ground-breaking concepts.
The recent burst in Dubai real-estate markets has taken
some amount of uncertainty. What effect will it have on
the Indian real-estate industry ?
Dubai market is an overbuilt market for a population
which is totally negligible. It won't have any impact to our
industry because the fundamentals of Indian and Dubai
market are totally different. Dubai is more Las Vegas cum
Disneyland, a tourist destination. It is not a city. It is more
of migrant population and doesn't have people who are
citizens of that country.
Do you think the markets are improving to what we have
seen in the year 2008-2009?
Definitely the recovery has been there but nowhere close
to the recovery in China, not even fraction of that. As far as
the demand supply ratio is concerned,
down the line supply was curtailed
because of the slowdown especially
between September 2008-June 2009.
Markets have recovered since June.
INDIA’S TOP
Surendra Hiranandani, Founder & MD, Hiranandani Upscale Group
Enriching dreams
into exclusive
townships
Why the concept of affordable
housing is so prevalent in India
where every developer today thinks
of developing such homes? Will this
concept work?
Every land, property, location has
its own dynamics. Every location
cannot be used for luxury housing.
There are locations which are suitable
for affordable housing and there are
locations which are suitable for
luxury housing. So luxury housing
market is much thinner than
affordable housing and low cost
housing market. There will be larger
number projects in that segment and
it should be that in that way.
Obviously this concept has to work
it has to be in the outskirts. The city
as such has no available vacant land
of any significance.There are so many
other issues that makes the process so
difficult, slow, painful to deliver on
anything meaningful.
Has the land acquisition and
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March – April 2010
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4. 24
financing issues become difficult in
the wake of economic crisis?
Bueracracy in the real-estate
industry is still significantly high as
compared to other countries. One of
the prime causes of the problems in
this industry are because of the
lengthy delays, the corruptions, the
number of departments one has to
approach and gross time which take
from buying a land to actually
commencing a project is so
large that it significantly
increases the risk factor one
wishes to develop.
What strict implementation is
needed for a real-estate sector to
be at par with the developments
happenings overseas? What
about the required norms?
In the last 4-5 years we have
had the capabilities within us to
deliver on good quality. The
capabilities are there, the
problem is to achieve the scale of
operations and that is difficult
because of the Burecracy
implementing projects. Our
norms are pretty much on the
required standard which is up to
the individual developer to
execute them well.
Standards today are quite well
established and now imported
material is also available in the
market thus possible to achieve
global standards.
What do you have to say about FDI
in the real-estate markets in India
increasing in the number of
available real-estate funds and
reduced interest rates on home
loans?
There are many overseas
companies planning to shift
their focus in Mumbai also lot
of developments in the
commercial and residential
place is taking place in the
city. We are also having the
land crunch so what measures
we need to take on this?
What we are doing in India
is nothing in comparison to
other countries. It seems very
large but whatever the other
countries are doing is small.
They see a future, they hope
things will improve, things will
March – April 2010
▲ Construction & Architecture Magazine
Definitely FDI has done a great job
to the Indian real-estate sector,
without FDI we would not have seen
an increase in supply which we have
achieved in the last few years. It
provides a critical equity in the
market which is otherwise not so easy.
What do you think about the idea
of having second homes?
We do not develop second home
properties. It is peripheral and small
market and very prone to
fluctuations in the real estate market.
What kind of developments would
you like to see in the coming days?
It has to come at the policy level.
It has to come with the fact that
people should be vigorously talking
about urbanisation and how to
urbanise, how a city should be built
and how a city should be designed?
What way we should create not only
the redevelopment but also the
outskirts of the existing cities and if
possible new cities. That approach
and discussion is still happening at
the very peripheral level. We are still
talking about how we can retain
people in rural areas when we know
that there is going to be fabulous
amount of migration from rural to
urban areas.
What has 2010 store for the realestate industry?
I am sure and confident about
2010 will be much better than the
last two years.
Facts
❑ One of the largest real estate
developers in the country.
❑ Introduction of copper
plumbing in India.
❑ Diversified into entertainment,
healthcare, hospitality, retail and
call centers.
❑ Pioneers in mix-use and
township development.
❑ International quality
construction standards.
❑ ISO 9001 : 2000 certified company.
BUILDERS
progress but as of now the pace is
still very slow.
Cover Story
R Karthik, Sr VP-Marketing, Lodha Group
INDIA’S TOP
INDIA’S TOP
BUILDERS
Cover Story
26
Building higher
living standards
Lodha Group premier real estate developer provides comprehensive
residential and office space solutions across real estate categories and diverse
consumer segments. Remona Divekar speaks to R Karthik, Sr VP-Marketing,
Lodha Group to get the real view on the company and industry's growth
trajectory
March – April 2010
▲ Construction & Architecture Magazine

5. In what ways has been the group responsive to changing
market situations that dynamically realigned its project
portfolio anticipating demand-supply mismatches in the
market?
Our ability is to look at the underlying market trends
of what is happening and tap into opportunities. In most
businesses the success lies in not creating distances from the
competition that are miles long but to be one step ahead
consistently. In the immediate past about a year and half
ago when the markets were not so good, we were amongst
the first to understand, appreciate that the commercial
supply was high in the market and also convert lot of
commercial with substantial amount of work that had
been done like plinths. Secondly we were the first ones to
understand affordable housing what we we call as the mid
income luxury segment. We saw that the very quality
segment where people were interested in buying apartment
between Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh bracket that time we
launched a sub brand called CASA that sold substantial
numbers in the form of CASA Bella in Dombivali that sold
about 4,000 apartments. Coming back on to commercial
side there definitely has been an overhand of supply for
quite some time in Mumbai.
Of lately we have seen a positive growth trajectory in the
residential sector in comparison to commercial ? Why?
We are lucky in able to drive fair amount of commercial
transactions. Our commercial portfolio is about 13 percent
that seem to be a smaller percentage but still we are the
largest sellers of commercial real-estate in Mumbai and
again that truly about understanding consumer needs,
making that product more responsive towards the needs
of consumers in commercial.
How has been the response for your bi-invitation projects
in Mumbai? Are you planning to launch any thing on
those lines in near future? Where?
Do you think swift and speedy
urbanization has boosted growth
trajectory of real estate sector? What
will be the impact in urban centers
like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore?
Will it be positioned to attain
global character and recognition?
Yes definitely it has. There is lot of
work needed to be done by the
government and private sectors
trying to improve the overall
infrastructure that should improve
the value of real-estate in overall
period of time. What it does is it
redistributes population patterns
across the city thus creating value
for the people when you are able
to create physical and social
infrastructure for people to live
and operate.
Tell us about you forthcoming projects in commercial and
residential sector? Are you developing projects in the Tier
II and Tier III cities? If yes what types commercial or
residential? Where? What is the status?
We have a slew of 8-10 projects lined up in the next three
months that will span across various product and consumer
types. They are high end to affordable housing projects. We
are completely a Mumbai focused player and we believe
there lies a large opportunity within the city with highest
market share.We don't operate in Tier II and Tier III cities.
Lodha Luxuria -Mumbai's first 'Fully Automated
Township' or Lodha Aqua - Mumbai's first water inspired
township. Tell us more about them?
Lodha Luxuria is a 27 storied and nine towers large
development positioned as completely automated township.
The idea is to make life easier for every family member. You
have playground where you have got a video play coming
directly to your home, video doorphones, cell phone and
controlled automation. There are lots of things that are
driven by technology introduced into the township to create
an integrated environment. We want this project to be there
for global Indian people who have experienced living
outside and are comfortable with differentiating technology
for young adult today. Lodha Aqua is a water themed
project in Dahiasar. Our idea was to create water strip to
develop the entire project, so Aqua was conceived as a
township emerging inside a water body so the entire
branding creates a feel.
Construction & Architecture Magazine
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March – April 2010
from apartments that are between Rs
20 lakhs to Rs 30 crores. There are
different types of consumers having
various needs so important thing is
to focus only on one type of project
at the cost of other which may not
necessarily be a great hedging
strategy in that sense. Most of our
funding for residential projects
comes from customers and the
projects we sell. We believe that
we are very active sellers.
Shifting focus from luxury housing
many have focused their gears into
affordable housing segments? What
is your take on that? How do you
raise funds?
For any meaningful developer the
ability to operate across segments is
very important. We have the largest
portfolio of residential expanding
Bi-invitation is the concept which we have pioneered.The
concept is not so much about the product but philosophy
of selling a product. It is actually to ensure that we are able
to create a residential eco-system where likeminded people
and people of class live together. Bi-invitation helped to
create certain kind of comfort for particular type of people
to come together and live in the same place. So I think biinvitation project is a successful concept because it has held
as a part of our philosophy where we have ensured the way
we approach the market whether advertising or the way
productd get displayed. The overall sales process has to get
worked around the concept of bi-invitation. The novelty of
bi-invitation is not there anymore in a large sense unless
you really believe that you are offering a product. We are
shortly launching sky villas in Thane and those will be biinvitation, an exclusive set of 27 sky villas, and an
apartment per floor of 5,000 sq ft with a swimming pool.
Currently what is the position of
your land bank pan India? How
much of it are you developing in
residential and commercial sectors?
We have one of the largest
privately acquired land banks in the
country close to 4,200 acres of area
in Mumbai a fair amount of land
capital available for development. It
is a combination for both residential
and commercial so we can decide
what to develop.
INDIA’S TOP
F
rom luxury garden residences in South Mumbai to
large integrated townships in the suburbs, from
thoughtfully designed office environments to private
villa retreats, Lodha Group has continuously strived to
exceed the expectations of customers through innovative
world-class solutions leading to several thoughtfully
designed apartments, first’s to its credit.Headquartered in
Mumbai, Lodha group is currently developing in excess of
29 million sq ft of prime real estate spread over 38 projects.
Cover Story
BUILDERS
Cover Story
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March – April 2010
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Looking at the current scenario in
the real-estate sector? What positive
developments can we foresee in
coming days? Your outlook.
With the price deepening sharply,
real customers came into buying
apartments as compared to people
buying apartments as they were
always worried about prices moving
up. The fear of driving and it is true
need which is driving the real-estate
which is most sustainable demand.
Self use as a key reason of demand
for getting generated. Also huge
amount of push from the banks to
give home loan is the most secured
form, government propagating loans
and financing and mortgagees. The
way the Indian customers are also
aware that the real-estate purchase is
an important part of their saving
strategy over a period of time. All
this put together gives a great and
we are a young economy and the
penetration of new homes is very
low we have good future. ■

6. BUILDERS
Cover Story
Housing
Happiness
MCHI is a prominent body of real-estate
builders and developers. Pravin Doshi,
President, MCHI and Chairman, ACME
Group shares some important
objectives, issues on real-estate and
construction industry with Remona
Divekar
INDIA’S TOP
Pravin Doshi, President,
MCHI and Chairman, ACME Group
30
M
aharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry
(MCHI), formed in 1982 is the most
prominent body of real estate builders,
developers bringing together members dealing in real
estate and construction industry on one common
platform to address issues facing the industry. MCHI
helps both the Central and State governments in meeting
their objectives of providing shelter. MCHI works
towards raising awareness among the general public, real
estate and construction industry while providing them
with exhaustive information on projects and new
developments in and around Mumbai. With over 400
well-recognised and reputed member builders, developers
MCHI is affiliated with leading industry associations like
FICCI, IMC and CREDAI. Interview excerpts…….....
economic condition of Indian industry are much better
and the future also looks promising. The biggest boost
here was to create a good economy at a political level. On
those fronts India is sound now at least for next five years
so people are should not be afraid of about getting
squeezed in politics and economic conditions.
As we enter 2010, and the country’s economy seems to
be rebounding, what implications will it have on the
credit markets thawing and the housing sector
recovering?
I think housing sector is on the recovering stage. There
are many who wanted to buy flats during the recessionary
phase but were waiting for the markets to catch up. Now
although the economic conditions of US, Europe and
other countries are not so good but growth rate and the
How progressive will this real-estate industry be for the
commercial, residential, affordable housing segment in
comparison to last year 2009? What new developments
can we see this year?
In the residential segments people have understood the
requirements to be fulfilled in the best possible way
where everyone there is a need for quality product with
best amenities. So today there is a competition among
the builders today to give the ultimate comfort to the flat
March – April 2010
▲ Construction & Architecture Magazine
In some reports there are talks about the negative
impact in the real-estate sector with slight stable bases?
Fitch ratings has reported a negative outlook in the
beginning of the quarter
I don’t think it is true. All over India recently we had a
meeting of CREDAI where Indian representatives spoke
about progressive and improvement in market conditions
and flat buying process.
Cover Story
purchasers. In the present situation the economical
conditions have changed where the service class people have
become more confident of buying. Earlier it had happened
that because of the job insecurity people never wanted to
buy a costlier flat or bigger flats. Now they want to buy
bigger flats with better amenities and they don't mind
paying a better price also. As far as the middle level or
higher end residential segment is concerned there is a very
heavy demand. The moral is for the next few years there
won't be any problem in the residential housing segment.
India is definitely doing well with little demand in the
commercial premises/sectors that will be better provided
when overall economic conditions of the world changes. As
far as affordable housing is required I don’t think so for
next 10 years there will be any kind of problem because in
this segment there is huge demand and requirement.
Do you think that the concept of affordable housing will
work in the metropolitan cities in India?
I think it has to work. For today affordable is very
comparative term, difficult to explain but there is affordable
housing requirement. It is better that affordable housing
should be created in every area, making it affordable in such
a way that affordability is available for buyers. Moreover the
government should construct and allow the rental scheme
because today lot of money is blocked and because of the
government rent policy act it may not be possible but if it
is permitted then everybody will be able to do it. It will be
easier to have affordable houses in rental/ownership either
way, sudden policy change is required.
Won’t it impact the quality of construction and building a
good home?
As far as quality of construction is considered I don't
think so anybody will take any risks because when the
quality of the construction is concerned we must
understand the stability, look, finesse, quality of the entire
structure. The difference can be raised in the amenity of the
structure. With high quality and cost, the class is the same
but the amenities are different. In affordable housing if you
want to make it affordable the minimum requirement of a
human being is to have a good house and dwelling unit that
should be provided. One may not be given luxurious
amenities good ventilated house with basic amenities such
as water, electricity should be provided.
The state government has increased the market value of
real estate by 10-20 per cent in its Ready Reckoner
2010.What impact is it likely to have on old building,
new constructions, redevelopment residential buildings in
metros and Tier II buildings?
This will make a difference especially to the flat
purchaser more because of the increase in the rent and
ratable value. The stamp duty will be more and the money
will go from the flat purchasers' pockets. When agreement
value was less, every flat purchaser purchased flat through
banks and when he purchased through banks naturally
everyone wants a proper agreement value and when the
governments thinks of the ratable value it is more then a
wrong step the government’s end because on one side the
government is thinking of building affordable homes. What
is affordable housing? I think affordable housing is house
where a person can buy easily without creating a lot of
stress and strain on his finances and himself without
cutting down on basic things in his life. In redevelopment
residential buildings the impact will be the same because
when they have purchased flats at a different value now they
have given for redevelopment so while giving for
redevelopment they expect certain more area. As per today's
rule whatever more area they are going to take on that
ratable value will be applicable, now they are getting free of
charge from the builders but they have to pay stamp duty
according to the ratable value. So they have to pay more
from their own pockets.
How much do you think will the housing formats
improve in 2010? Will cost of land, materials, and cost of
construction hinder the construction and development?
Housing formats will improve but the prices will
definitely be more because the limitation of land is creating
a big hurdle. When the government plans to do affordable
housing they should release the land which is the blocked
land that is in excess, take the money and invest that money
into infrastructure. On behalf of MCHI we have given the
permission that if given us an FSI at a particular cost that
money should be kept aside and reinvested in infrastructure
of Mumbai or any Tier II and Tier III city. Give more FSI
and that should be purchased by the builder or the
developer and that money should go for the infrastructure
projects.
Are the real-estate developers in the current stage lacking
funds for the developments of their projects or they have
funds but projects are stalled? What is the situation?
Currently there is no problem as such, no projects are
held up because of funds and secondly the market is good
and the banks are giving money for construction so no
projects are held up.
What role do private equity funds play for developers?
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7. BUILDERS
Cover Story
It will progress as there is local requirement because
local businessmen and more office space is needed so
local requirement is good and I think it will increase.
How promising will this industry be and how
progressive it will be? Would it witness any kind of
setbacks?
I don’t think any setback can come in the way the
market is booming and growing with the overall
economic conditions improving. The salaries and the
pay packages are also scaling high. This entire process
will trigger increased requirement and moreover the
government is thinking to reduce the interest also.
INDIA’S TOP
To increase the business yes the funds play an
important role. When you get more money automatically
you can buy more property, create a better business and
because of the private equity and money the interest
burden is not there so person can take the money and
utilize that money for much better way.
According to you what is the ideal method of
generating funds for the development of the smooth
operation of the projects?
The easiest way is the bank because under any
circumstances if builders have to buy a land it has to be
from their own money or private borrowing. If the
builder has a good reputation in the market with
outstanding line up of projects then naturally private
equity players come forward to invest in real-estate
projects. Real-estate is the business where the demand is
enormous. There can be set backs for one, two years or
maximum three years but it cannot be permanent.
Moreover the housing industry stands second who gives
employment after agriculture.
Do we have a dearth of quality manpower in this
industry country?
Definitely there is requirement but people are coming
and learning fast today. Moreover today, developers,
contractors have started getting ideas, with new type of
construction method so that the requirement and the
failure of the human being are reduced to a great extent.
For instance earlier things were done by manpower,
today so much of the work is handled by the machines.
The situation has changed with changing times, and tech
savvy skilled manpower is of utmost requirement.
How progressive will be the commercial real-estate
industry be this year? What new developments can we
expect to see in this sector?
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March – April 2010
▲ Construction & Architecture Magazine
What is the scene is going to be like in terms of the
foreign investment? Will the relaxed FDI rules
implement will invite more foreign investors and
maintain a lucrative scene in the real-estate sector?
I don’t think so relaxed FDI rules will implement
foreign investors. If the foreign investment will come
more in numbers it will be definitely good for the realestate industry because there is already high demand
locally. We are unable to fulfill our local requirement and
if the money will come as an investment from foreign
countries the prices are bound to go up and become
unaffordable so I don' think government can allow it and
if its allows it will be with certain restrictions and
condition. In real-estate if genuine foreign exchange will
come with certain condition it is always welcome. We
will always have a better and broader outlook of the realestate industry instead of just concentrating on the local
demand.
What serious industry policies, implementation and
framework are required to make this industry manage
crisis even at the times of economic slowdown or
slump?
Whatever the conditions are in the laws they must
make it faster, if the things move faster in a better
direction giving certain time limit then you don't require
any changes also in the law. The only thing is that it
should move much faster. The way today it is going it
takes minimum 15-20 months to start a project after
purchasing a land.
What new trends and concept can we expect in the
real-estate sector?
Landscaping and garden should be provided even it
has to be in the small property, single building where
greenery plays a vital role. Moreover the developers
should be able to utilise the natural resources like solar,
wind energy, recycled water. Moreover the building
outlook should be such that the requirement and the
loss of energy should be minimised. In short a kind of
a green building. ■