'Connectivity is the most important factor'
Dhaval Ajmera, director, Ajmera Group, explains the intricacies of developing townships and their expectations for the realty market
What are the attributes or aspects that distinguish Ajmera Group's approach towards townships?
Whenever we take a township to develop there are various things to keep in mind and also the size of the land and lots of inputs and data required. Basically, the main purpose and advantage of why we do a township is that we want a customer to have all the attributes together like a school, a college or convenience store, a mall, a theatre, offices, etc. Today the traffic and the time of travelling has become so much in Mumbai and even any other city that commuting has become really difficult and the stress level goes high. So probably if you have same everything in the vicinity you are able to spend a lot of quality time with your family. This enhances your work capacity and enhances your thinking power, so you have all psychological and social benefits together. We feel as a township development offers a lot of benefits to a customer. Plus, if you have everything at a stone's throw distance it really helps them to take a decision.
How does Ajmera Group identify new township locations?
Fortunately for us we have a huge land bank, which has been already acquired long time back and probably they are all in the centre of the city. Ideally for any township you need development happening in the city centric areas or within the vicinity, which is being connected to stations, public transportation. Our townships generally are near to all these areas and any township if we look forward is generally about how well it is connected to the public transport as that's the key to be any success of a township or a development. Connectivity is the most important factor.
The most important parameter to check is the clear title without any litigation, which of course very difficult to get but still we look forward for it. Second is the potential, we see what is the future 2-3 years down the line and with its connectivity if there's any or what's the better connectivity to the to the city. Thinking of all these parameters, that is how we finalise the location.
What is the difference between Mumbai projects, having a Pan-India presence and international projects?
We are doing township development in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and now we are starting in Ahmedabad so with our experience, our infrastructure availability and the manpower availability we are able to expand. Nowadays, regulatory norms have become clearer and transparent than earlier. There are a lot of improvements still required but still things move much smoother and better in terms of authority and regulatory issues. Whenever we go outside, we do not have any litigated properties; we normally take properties, which are clean, clear and we can start construction immediately. More or less, the development happening in each of the cities is pretty much the same, there's not too much of a difference. Abroad, people are much more professional, they are answerable and accountable to all things, slowly and steadily that is also happening in India.
What are your current thrust areas?
We are doing all sector development; residential and commercial are the two main areas that we are focusing on at the moment. In residential also we have high, medium, affordable housing segments depending on the location. We are pretty diversified in both and soon we are also coming up in Kanjurmarg for development. Our main USP is connectivity; take for example our township at Wadala whose USP is connectivity. Even our project in Bangalore, it's an electronic city where there's a new operational elevated road, which connects to the heart of Bangalore in 10 minutes. It used to take half an hour to reach earlier.
We are looking at primary potential real estate development in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Ahemdabad and as a group we are looking at potential land buying in and around Mumbai and other cities where we are operating.
How does real estate compare to stock market or gold?
Real estate is always traditionally proven and that you can say any Indian specifically would always want to have his or her home. Because of that real estate will never see a downward trend in the long run. With the growing population and demand in housing, I don't think real estate investment can ever go wrong, so that will always be a good option. Stocks are volatile, but real estate is not as volatile as stocks. It depends on how your investments are so if you are investing in high ticket item, in long run it's always positive.
How do you see the future of real estate markets?
Currently the real estate market is on a kind of standstill, because of the high interest rates and people thinking the prices might go down but that's not the scenario which I feel will happen. People are right now on a thinking mode or on a wait and watch mode. I'm pretty sure that there's a lot of demand even today and this demand will definitely increase and people are only waiting for the right time. Now since the festive season has started they will definitely put in their investments. Overall, it looks pretty good.
Residential is always going to be good because there's a lot of demand as it is inherent in Indians. Commercial also nowadays, as India is growing a lot of small companies, small industries are now growing up so they require huge office space compared to what they are using today so that their investment portfolio looks better. Everyone is looking for a change and definitely we are seeing a good demand. Earlier there was a lot of investment happening as rental and nowadays we see even outright purchases of offices, which are definitely adding to the assets in their balance sheet and helps them in long run. With the increase in the FDI norms retail is definitely looking for a better boom, so customers are going to get huge variety of things, which will be good in the long run.
Dhaval Ajmera, director, Ajmera Group, explains the intricacies of developing townships and their expectations for the realty market
What are the attributes or aspects that distinguish Ajmera Group's approach towards townships?
Whenever we take a township to develop there are various things to keep in mind and also the size of the land and lots of inputs and data required. Basically, the main purpose and advantage of why we do a township is that we want a customer to have all the attributes together like a school, a college or convenience store, a mall, a theatre, offices, etc. Today the traffic and the time of travelling has become so much in Mumbai and even any other city that commuting has become really difficult and the stress level goes high. So probably if you have same everything in the vicinity you are able to spend a lot of quality time with your family. This enhances your work capacity and enhances your thinking power, so you have all psychological and social benefits together. We feel as a township development offers a lot of benefits to a customer. Plus, if you have everything at a stone's throw distance it really helps them to take a decision.
How does Ajmera Group identify new township locations?
Fortunately for us we have a huge land bank, which has been already acquired long time back and probably they are all in the centre of the city. Ideally for any township you need development happening in the city centric areas or within the vicinity, which is being connected to stations, public transportation. Our townships generally are near to all these areas and any township if we look forward is generally about how well it is connected to the public transport as that's the key to be any success of a township or a development. Connectivity is the most important factor.
The most important parameter to check is the clear title without any litigation, which of course very difficult to get but still we look forward for it. Second is the potential, we see what is the future 2-3 years down the line and with its connectivity if there's any or what's the better connectivity to the to the city. Thinking of all these parameters, that is how we finalise the location.
What is the difference between Mumbai projects, having a Pan-India presence and international projects?
We are doing township development in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai and now we are starting in Ahmedabad so with our experience, our infrastructure availability and the manpower availability we are able to expand. Nowadays, regulatory norms have become clearer and transparent than earlier. There are a lot of improvements still required but still things move much smoother and better in terms of authority and regulatory issues. Whenever we go outside, we do not have any litigated properties; we normally take properties, which are clean, clear and we can start construction immediately. More or less, the development happening in each of the cities is pretty much the same, there's not too much of a difference. Abroad, people are much more professional, they are answerable and accountable to all things, slowly and steadily that is also happening in India.
What are your current thrust areas?
We are doing all sector development; residential and commercial are the two main areas that we are focusing on at the moment. In residential also we have high, medium, affordable housing segments depending on the location. We are pretty diversified in both and soon we are also coming up in Kanjurmarg for development. Our main USP is connectivity; take for example our township at Wadala whose USP is connectivity. Even our project in Bangalore, it's an electronic city where there's a new operational elevated road, which connects to the heart of Bangalore in 10 minutes. It used to take half an hour to reach earlier.
We are looking at primary potential real estate development in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Ahemdabad and as a group we are looking at potential land buying in and around Mumbai and other cities where we are operating.
How does real estate compare to stock market or gold?
Real estate is always traditionally proven and that you can say any Indian specifically would always want to have his or her home. Because of that real estate will never see a downward trend in the long run. With the growing population and demand in housing, I don't think real estate investment can ever go wrong, so that will always be a good option. Stocks are volatile, but real estate is not as volatile as stocks. It depends on how your investments are so if you are investing in high ticket item, in long run it's always positive.
How do you see the future of real estate markets?
Currently the real estate market is on a kind of standstill, because of the high interest rates and people thinking the prices might go down but that's not the scenario which I feel will happen. People are right now on a thinking mode or on a wait and watch mode. I'm pretty sure that there's a lot of demand even today and this demand will definitely increase and people are only waiting for the right time. Now since the festive season has started they will definitely put in their investments. Overall, it looks pretty good.
Residential is always going to be good because there's a lot of demand as it is inherent in Indians. Commercial also nowadays, as India is growing a lot of small companies, small industries are now growing up so they require huge office space compared to what they are using today so that their investment portfolio looks better. Everyone is looking for a change and definitely we are seeing a good demand. Earlier there was a lot of investment happening as rental and nowadays we see even outright purchases of offices, which are definitely adding to the assets in their balance sheet and helps them in long run. With the increase in the FDI norms retail is definitely looking for a better boom, so customers are going to get huge variety of things, which will be good in the long run.
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