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With over 55 million sq ft under development across various projects, Tata Housing Development Company is steadily on an expansion path. The company has around 12,000 housing units ready right now, and more projects are in the pipeline.
In an interview with BusinessLine , Brotin Banerjee, MD and CEO, Tata Housing, spoke of the company’s plans, competition and overseas business. Edited excerpts:
What about your inventories?
We have 10,000-12,000 units available right now and will add another 12,000-plus units this fiscal, with three projects coming up in the Mumbai Metropolitan area, Delhi NCR (national capital region) and Kolkata. When I say add, that means these projects will be launched this year and in the initial phase, it may be 1,500 units.
When will the projects be ready?
In seven to eight years. Typically, if one were doing a 50-60-acre project, it would require five to six years.
What sort of investments are you making?
The three projects have different structures. Two are joint ventures and one is on development management. Tata Value Homes expects a PBIT (profit before interest and tax) upwards of ₹2,000-2,500 crore and over ₹4,000 crore in revenue in the three projects.
How difficult is it to compete in the unorganised sector? Where do you lose out?
Very difficult, it all boils down to our inability to close deals due to demands such as payment is cash. The second is the title of property. If the title is not clear, we back out. Third, we do not buy agricultural land. Most people make money by converting agricultural land to zone land (zone reclassification). We only buy zone land. There are many more such issues.
How has your public-private partnership worked?
We have two projects— one in Male (in Maldives) and the other in Sri Lanka. In Male, we have resumed work with the new Government in place. The project is about one million sq ft.
The Lanka project is progressing, where piling is currently on for the first six lakh sq ft of rehabilitation quarters. The total project is about five million sq ft with a free sale component (the portion a developer is given to develop and sell to make his margin) of 4.5 million sq ft. We will build the rehab portion first and then take up the free sale area.
The total sq ft under development of Tata Housing…
It’s about 55 million, with Tata Value Homes comprising 60 per cent and the balance under Tata Housing.
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