Piramal Realty to invest Rs 3,500 crore in 2 years

New Delhi: Piramal Realty will invest Rs 3,500 crore over the next two years in four ongoing housing projects as it aims to deliver a 6 million square feet area to customers, its CEO Gaurav Sawhney said.

Founded in 2012, Piramal Realty is the real estate arm of the business conglomerate Piramal Group. It is one of the leading developers with 15 million square feet of residential and commercial under development in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

In an interview with PTI, Sawhney said the company is developing 13 million square feet in phases across four residential projects in Mulund, Thane, Mahalaxmi and Byculla in the MMR.

The company is developing around 12,000 apartments across these four projects.

"We have launched around 8-8.5 million square feet so far in these four projects and the remaining 4-5 million square feet will be launched over the next two years," he said.

Sawhney said the company is focusing on delivery and has started handing over the first set of 1,000 apartments to its customers totalling about 1 million square feet.

In the next two years, he said, "We are scheduled to deliver another  60,00,000 (6 million) square feet and we will be making an investment of more than Rs 3,500 crores in construction." In this 6 million square feet area, about 4,500-5000 apartments will get delivered.

Sawhney highlighted that the company has established itself in the premium luxury side of the market, with a lot of emphasis on green initiatives, better use of space inside as well as outside the apartments and community living.

"I can say at least in MMR we hold a decent position overall, now that people are continuing to invest in the brand and have bought into the promise very well," he observed.

Sawhney noted that the housing demand remains strong despite the rise in interest rates on home loans.

He said the mortgage rate is not the only factor in the customer's mind while buying properties. Property prices, disposable income, job security and salary increments are some of the other factors.

"We feel that post-COVID there is a very strong sentiment of home buying, which gives us the confidence that will continue to drive the demand in the market," he added.

Sawhney highlighted that the company has clocked an average sales bookings of Rs 2,000 crore annually in the last five years.

To expand the business, he said the company is looking at adding more land banks for future development. It is exploring partnerships with land owners for joint development.