CSR means different things to different stakeholders of India Inc. and today there is no reliable rating/valuation methodology to measure CSR standards. Most of the ranking that has been done about the most sustainable corporations is not professionally standardized or uniform.
What has been an interesting finding during this fiscal year is the fact that a number of relatively smaller developers but with impeccable track record of delivery and consumer satisfaction are breaking the myth that it is the sheer volume and premium that elevates a company at the Brand Leadership Chart.
Till a decade back such was the mad rush for raising money in the capital market that even the real estate companies with limited presence in select micro markets started launching projects across the country to showcase a pan-India presence. Significant increase in housing demand, organized retailing and liquidity boom from 2003 to 2008, led to huge increase in land prices and real estate values and most real estate companies had a great run.
India’s most admired and trusted real estate brand has won the “Iconic Real Estate Brand Award” at the India Best Brand Series and Awards (IBBA) 2018 held recently in Delhi NCR. These awards recognise the brand strength and success stories of corporates, SME’s, entrepreneurs and start-ups. The winners were selected on the basis of brand audit, consumer mapping, and jury ratings.
Known for fresh water lakes of Himayath Sagar and Osman Sagar, Rajendra Nagar for long had been known for the Shamshabad Airport and the Mrugavani National Park. But today the area is also famous for some of the quality educational institutions, like Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) and Andhra Pradesh Prohibition and Excise Academy. There are also many international schools in the area.
The joint venture, Krisumi Corporation Pvt Ltd, will develop large scale real estate projects across India beginning with ‘Krisumi City’, an 18-million sq ft development which will be developed with a cost in excess of US$2 billion. Both partners will hold 50:50 stake in this JV company.
No practitioner of brand management would today refuse to be a proponent of social media, but the role of social media is effective only when one makes use of a prudent media mix, including the traditional media, television and social media.
Some call it market intelligence and not due diligence where the focus should be more on the micro markets than general trends which could be misleading. However, there are many grey areas where in the absence of proper research and reliable data even the assessment of ground realities is not feasible.
Swadeep Sharma was on a house hunt in Noida for the last two years. Last year he could find a house of choice at one of the newly delivered projects in Noida Expressway at INR 5600 per sq feet. He could, however, not manage his finances then. Now that he has managed his finances, he went to the same location anticipating shelling out more money. He was, however, taken by surprise. The apartment in the same society is today available at INR 4800 per sq feet.
The new regulatory regime is largely about steps, which include streamlining approval processes, simplifying taxation (GST), building institutional capacity, as also introducing urban planning and real estate-related reforms (RERA and REITs).