Ravi Sinha: Even in the Indian context, if you look at the places like Gurgaon. Had there been no infrastructure no one would be living over there and that is how NCR has evolved as a case study in satellite towns. But the disconnect is with the funding.
Track2Realty Roundtable
Panelists—Dr Anil Sharma, CMD, Amrapali Group
Sunil Dahiya—Sr Vice President, NAREDCO & MD Vigneshwara Developers
Harmit Chawla—MD, HCorp Realty
PK Tripathi—President, Unitech
Moderator—Ravi Sinha, CEO & Managing Editor, Track2Realty
Ravi Sinha: Many of the developers have realised that focus on execution and not the land bank is the key. Companies which overleveraged their balance sheets or branched out into non-core areas have failed. Developers have also learnt it the hard way that real estate is a micro market business and fancy expectations of going pan-India can boomerang. Are not these tough lessons?
The operational inexperience of the developers’ is also being sewn up through strategic tie-ups with the majors in the hotel industry. An improving economic scenario and demand for more hotel rooms across categories is persuading international hotel chains to sign new management contracts with Indian developers and property owners, according to analysts. The industry will witness the announcement of a number of new hotels in the year ahead.
The demand fundamentals of the India story are now focused around all cities that have sufficient economic activity, be it industrial, service sector-driven or incentive-driven programs by the State Government. In Gujarat, which has seen considerable industrial progress, the key cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara come readily to mind.
It may surprise to many, but the fact is that the housing finance sector has steadily and consistently been posting impressive growth, despite the numerous challenges in the sector.
Integrated township, 5-star hotel, shopping malls, multiplexes, and luxury apartments… backed by the NRI investment Nagpur is fast catching up on the real estate map of India to emerge as the tier I city.
The Finance Minister seems to be getting more appreciation than brickbats for renewing focus on the housing needs of Aam Aadmi. Even the real estate sector is divided and while the long awaited demands have not been fulfilled, a section of the realtors with affordable housing projects have appreciated the efforts.
Om Chaudhary, CEO or Fire Capital Fund has a word of caution for Indian realty market and he believes that while there’s a huge hunger line for the realty, FII’s inflow can be a matter of concern since China is going to control the GDP.
Ravi Sinha: I welcome all the panelists in this roundtable discussion. We are organizing the brain storming session for our inaugural yearly Handbook Focus 2012. This is the second of the series after the 1st discussion in Mumbai on “Funding Gap in Real Estate.”
As the education sector evolves, factors such as technology permeation, revamped building designs, and focus on health & safety are likely to define education real estate. Besides, modern educational building design must prioritise flexibility so that spaces can be reconfigured to adapt to various teaching methods and activities, developing a dynamic learning environment. To address this and move away from traditional classroom setups, educational buildings now include collaborative spaces to encourage teamwork and group learning. Moreover, sustainable, and eco-friendly design elements, such as energy-efficient systems and natural lighting, are becoming increasingly common to reduce the environmental impact of educational buildings.