The Hindu Business Line : Unitech not planning equity dilution

Unitech, which bagged a mega land deal, is not planning any equity dilution, and internal accruals are enough for now, according to its Managing Director, Mr Sanjay Chandra.

He stated that no commercial development of land at Noida was likely. In fact, 50 per cent of the land at Noida would be developed for residential needs. Rentals in Noida and Gurgaon wouldbe boosted by IT & BPO set ups. He further said that revenues from the Noida land deal were likely to start coming in by Q1FY08.

Excerpts from CNBC - TV18's exclusive interview with Mr Sanjay Chandra:

Could you put a better perspective on this deal? How much did you pay and by when do you see some amount of revenues coming in, once you start the work?

We paid Rs 1,582 crore for this 340-acre in Noida. 50 per cent of that will be developed as residential and the balance would be open in the greens. We expect that in another six months, we should have an initial plan and we will get ready to break ground and reach out to the market. So we would expect some revenues coming in, by the first quarter of next year.

Could you give us a ballpark figure of what kind of square foot area are you looking at in residential and commercial projects and when could you look to start the pre-launch booking?

It is going to be only residential, so there will not be any commercial projects because that is not allowed as per the tender conditions. It is a low-density area, so we are still trying to understand the laws and what would be the maximum achievable, which we can do. It is too early to comment on that but we will have a clear direction in the next two months.

Along with this project, in total, how much is the land under development for Unitech now?

We have delivered projects of over 1,000 acres already and we have substantially more land banks available across the country. But it will be a little too early to comment on the quantum.

Purely as an observer of the entire real estate space and pricing, have you seen any impact in areas where you are in because of the correction in markets?

Not at all. Actually, the residential market is as buoyant as before. Because of the employment boom across the country, we are actually getting manymore homebuyers. So we have not seen any drop on the residential front at all. With office space, and IT and BPO service booming, we have also seen a northward movement in rentals.

Could you give us some sense on the kind of projects, which would kick into revenue streams over the next four quarters for you? What could that do to your overall revenue picture in the next four quarters?

We are actually working on our plans for the next four quarters. So, it is too early to comment on that.

Do you need to raise any capital at all in the future?

We are investing a lot into the purchase of new land. So far, internal accruals from our residential sales have been pretty sufficient to meet all those needs, including this project. So there is no dilution plans in the foreseeable future.

How much are you developing by way of institutional projects?

We have a lot of IT parks under development, little over two million square feet across the country already. Residential projects are our main business though. 75 per cent of our volumes do come from residential development.

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