Godrej Properties in expansion mode; adds 15 land parcels in FY23

New Delhi: Seeking to expand business amid strong housing demand, realty firm Godrej Properties has acquired 15 land parcels so far this fiscal with sales potential of Rs 27,500 crore and looks to add more land by March to construct new projects.

In an interview with PTI, Godrej Properties Executive Chairman Pirojsha Godrej said the company's new business development -- which means acquisition of land parcels through outright purchases and joint ventures with landowners to build new projects -- will cross at least Rs 30,000 crore in the 2022-23 financial year, double than the annual guidance of Rs 15,000 crore.

"We are very happy with the quarter gone by. Operationally, it has been a very strong quarter. It ended up being an extraordinary quarter for business development. As opposed to the full year annual guidance of Rs 15,000 crore, just within the quarter we did Rs 23,000 crore. We are very happy about the outcome," he highlighted.

The company has added 15 new projects so far this fiscal with a total estimated saleable area of 23.42 million square feet and total estimated booking value of Rs 27,500 crore.

In the third quarter alone, Godrej Properties added 9 new projects in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune with an expected sales booking of Rs 23,050 crore.

Asked whether the company would revise the business development guidance for the FY'23, Godrej said, "It's hard to project. Visibility is good for the current quarter. We are very certain that we will cross two times of our guidance. How much more, that we will have to see." Sitting on a huge cash flow, the company has acquired more land parcels through outright purchases in this fiscal.

However, Godrej said the company is in talks with many landowners for join developments as well.

He noted that housing demand continues to be strong even during this quarter despite rise in interest rates on home loans and appreciation in property prices.

On the operational front, he said the company's sales bookings rose 77 per cent year-on-year to Rs 8,181 crore in the April-December period as against Rs 4,613 crore in the year-ago period.

Sales booking during the October-December quarter jumped over two-fold to Rs 3,252 crore from Rs 1,541 crore in the year-ago period.

The sales bookings in the third quarter were the highest for the company for any quarter ever, Godrej highlighted.

"We have already done nearly Rs 8,200 crore of sales bookings in the first three quarters of this fiscal year and hopefully we will definitely cross Rs 10,000 crore annual guidance," Godrej said.

Nevertheless, he said, Godrej Properties will not revise upwards its annual guidance for sales bookings.

According to an investors' presentation, out of the total sales bookings in April-December of this fiscal, the residential segment contributed Rs 8,124 crore, while commercial properties were just Rs 57 crore.

Geographically, Godrej Properties sold properties worth Rs 2,675 crore in Delhi-NCR, Rs 2,053 crore in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Rs 1,452 crore in Bengaluru and Rs 1,376 crore in Pune. These are the four major markets for the company.

Godrej Properties, which is the real estate arm of the business conglomerate Godrej Group, is one of the leading real estate developers in the country.

On financial metrics, it reported a 51 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 58.74 crore for the third quarter ended December 2022. The net profit stood at Rs 39.02 crore in the year-ago period.

The total income declined to Rs 404.58 crore in the third quarter of this fiscal from Rs 466.91 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company posted a net profit of Rs 159.25 crore during the April-December period of this fiscal as against Rs 91.90 crore in the year-ago period.

Its total income rose to Rs 1,200.18 crore in the first nine months of this fiscal from Rs 1,063.12 crore a year ago.