By: Ravi Sinha
Paramount Group is coming up with IT Park in the NCR. The project spread over 25 acres has been allotted by Greater Noida Authority at Knowledge Park 6. The IT Park is supposed to have the world class level of IT setup, residential complex, multiplex, hotel and service apartments. In an exclusive interview with Track2Realty, Paramount Group Executive Director Ashwani Prakash said the Group has been able to deliver matchless infrastructure at reasonable prices.
Recently the Group has been in the news for its most talked about project, the Golf Foreste. It is on 100 acres of land in Greater Noida, near Zeta sector. It claims to be a unique combination of affordability, comfort, luxury and quality. “In this project, we are selling villas at the rate of apartments. The range starts from Rs.28 lakhs onwards. The smallest villa is about 1450 sq ft in built up area. It is a combination of linear forest within a golf course,” he says.
Golf Foreste is designed by the world famous architectural firm Surbana International from Singapore. The company aims to have a pan-India presence and beyond the Delhi-NCR it has already completed a housing project in Saharanpur. Does it mean that tier-II and III cities are going to be the Group’s prime business now? “We do have the intentions,” says Prakash, “but right now we are busy with the present projects in the Delhi NCR region, we have to complete these in time and we are known to deliver the projects in time. In fact, the Saharanpur project was delivered before time.”
The Group as been instrumental in delivering mid range projects with all the amenities. How is it feasible at a time when the land cost is the major input cost added to the fact that the cost of construction has also skyrocketed? Ashwani Prakash explains, “We do have a concern about the affordable housing as well because the demand in that range still exists and will continue to exist. So we have come up with Paramount Emotions in Noida Extension where we have a unit price starting at Rs.16 lakhs inclusive everything. It is situated in a 46000 sq m area and the construction has already started. We hope to deliver the possession in about 30 months from now.”
In a market where liquidity crunch has forced many of the realty companies go belly up, Paramount Group claims to have sufficient funds to complete its ongoing and future projects. The Group is not looking up to investors either through PE investment or getting into the capital market. Ashwani Prakash says, “We don’t have any such plans. We have the funds. We go project to project and we don’t want to burden ourselves.”
This apprehension to raise money, Prakash asserts, has nothing to do with the volatile market conditions. “No, otherwise also, even if it is the right time, why should we raise money from outside when we are able to move our cash flow within the company,” he says.
The net worth of the Group, taking all projects together, is around Rs. 15oo crores and the debt free company seems poised to come into other fields as well. But unlike some of the other realtors who burnt their fingers by rushing into territories unknown, Paramount Group believes in strengthening its position in the areas of expertise first. “Our main focus is on the real estate because it is our main business. But we do intend to diversify as the need of the hour is and most other corporate houses are doing the same. We’ve tried to diversify into hospitality. We already have one project in Orbit Plaza in Crossings, let’s start with that and see what happens,” says Prakash.
