Properties, Homes & more

With the culture of individual houses and palatial bungalows fast becoming thing of past, Allahabad has been rather quick in adopting the flat culture, which until now was limited to metros only. The flat system is considered to be safe, secure and useful for social activities, especially for the older generation. It is here that the role of Allahabad Development Authority (ADA) assumes great significance.

ADA, originated in 1974, was formed under the provision laid by the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning & Development Act of 1973. ADA development projects began with smaller projects & constructions but soon progressed and changed the city’s look with its magnificent works. Uttar Pradesh is one of the most politically important states of India, and Allahabad is indeed an important city of that state with long historical and cultural background. It attracts a lot of people and tourists from all over the world and hence the need for establishment of development authority to overlook planned development of the city.

ADA plans to construct state-of-the-art infrastructure for its residential and commercial projects in a well planned manner by adhering to the master plan laid out by the authorities. It also started many housing schemes like Avantika, Kalindipuram, Juhi, Badri, Parivartan, Shantipuram, Agnipath, and IDH Compound Housing Scheme. In order to give a progressive direction to the development process of real estate in Allahabad, it has started working in conjunction with private builders and developers.

The latest real estate developments in city primarily focus on building hotels, guest houses, dharmashalas, restaurants, retail shops and other tourists’ spots. The real estate property prices in city are also mounting as more and more people are heading towards the efficient business opportunities the city offers. The property dealers are, surprisingly, fully supportive in the sale or renting of any property in Allahabad.

<< Jerry Rao’s interview on creating low cost housing the professional way

Jerry Rao, founder of IT firm Mphasis, wants to deliver low-cost good-quality homes to buyers like drivers, housemaids, plumbers and electricians. Jerry Rao’s new venture, Value and Budget Housing Development Corporation, is targeting building a million homes in 10 years in 17 cities. Excerpts of an exclusive interview with ET, Jerry Rao (JR) defends his new mantra…

Interviewer (I): How will you address the backend challenges? Your buyers constitute the unbanked part of the population!!

JR: There are two big demand-side challenges. One, unlike in Manila and Sao Paolo, where poor and rich neighbourhoods are far away, in Indian cities, the poor live inside the city. Now, we are giving them housing far away. So, there is a commute cost and a commute time. That is a demand-side dampener.

The second is they may want to buy but how many of them will qualify for a loan. That certainly reduces the size of the market. But, believe me, these people have the ability to downpay Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1.5 lakh. These people live frugally and save a lot. Over time, we believe the system will be in a position to offer 15-year mortgages in the Rs 2-8 lakh range.

I: What is your assessment of the buyer profile?

JR: They may be poor but they are upwardly mobile - these are NOT the absolute destitutes or the pavement dwellers. What they want is to get out of their present shanty / to a more secure place. They want compound walls, security, indoor toilet and privacy. Most want their children to go to English medium schools. The target buyer is someone, who has an income and also high labour mobility so that even if he moves to the city outskirts, he would get a replacement job pretty quickly. Like a driver or high-skilled construction worker.

--- As told to the Economic Times ---

In a major jolt to the already depressed real estate market in Jaipur, more than 1,000 investors were allegedly duped of at least Rs. 80 crore by a big-time city realtor, the Narayan Group. Some others were also duped by Subhash Sindhi Co-operative Society and Mahaveer Nagar Co-operative Society.

This shocking fraud came to the light when the Special Operations Group (SOG) recently arrested six persons, including Narayan Group’s owners Gyanchand Agrawal and his partner Sanjay Gupta. The SOG claimed the proprietors of Narayan Group have confessed to duping at least 1,000 investors. However, the number could be higher. According to SOG, the Narayan Group issued lease deeds to more than 2,200 people. After the group made huge profits in a project called Narayan Vihar A, B, C and D blocks in Mansarovar, they announced some more schemes, but in these schemes, they issued fraudulent lease deeds to people without having enough land.

Of the 2,200 people who had invested in the projects, many were given plots elsewhere instead of the places where they had been promised plots, while more than 1,000 people were not given possession at all. Three persons — Gyanchand Agrawal, Sanjay Gupta and one employee, Ravindra Pal Singh — of Narayan Group, were arrested. The SOG has seized documents related to properties and prima facie it seems that the number of those duped could be much higher than 1,000. The maximum number of fraudulent lease deeds were issued between 2004 and 2006.

In yet another fraud, one Jeevraj Singh approached the SOG alleging that proprietor of the Mahaveer Nagar housing co-operative society - Nankishor Mittal - took Rs 7.20 lakh from him for a plot at Shriram Ki Nagala in Sanganer, but did not give him possession. The SOG arrested Nandkishor and two others —Vipin and Shailendra.

--- As reported in the Times of India ---

Jerry Rao, founder of IT firm Mphasis, is completely immersed into his next business innings: Nano housing. Just like the Nano car, he wants to deliver homes to buyers looking for affordable homes: including drivers, housemaids, plumbers and electricians. Jerry Rao’s new venture, Value and Budget Housing Development Corporation, is targeting building a million homes in 10 years in 17 cities.

In an exclusive interview to Economic Times, Jerry Rao said, unlike conventional developers, his business model would treat land as an inventory and not a capital asset. If he is able to roll out his project and deliver in 12-18 months, the returns would be in the region of 30-40% almost similar to what the IT industry enjoyed in its dream run. Excerpts from the interview:

Interviewer (I): After IT, banking and angel investing, what made you think of housing?

Jerry Rao (JR): I could retire and do nothing. At 57, I have got at least another 5 to 10 years to do something else. I did want to stay away from IT and banking and wanted to do something of scale. I looked at agribusiness, education, health care and it seemed to me that I could leverage my IT and project management skills in housing. And, there was no paucity of demand. So, you could scale this business and create a big impact.

I: What is the difference between your business model and how conventional realty operates?

JR: Unlike conventional realty, we want to think of land as inventory and want to sell it as soon as we can. That is the basic difference that sets us apart. I thought it would be a high risk model. But, the downside here is very low. We are using equity to buy land. We will have access to construction finance and then we also get 25% down payments from buyers. So, even if the project goes bust, we can still repay all the loans and also repay equity. But, if we get it right and build and sell the project in 12-18 months, then the return on equity will be in the 30-40% range. It is actually quite an attractive place to be in.

I: Then, how come nobody else has entered the space?

JR: Why did nobody create a low-cost detergent before Nirma? The high-cost market was profitable enough. One, it is partly a supply side problem that people do not re-engineer. Two, the middle-class and upper-class segment, Rs 0.50-1 crore, has been very profitable. Three, if you are looking at land as a capital asset, you would not do it. This model requires a mindset shift.

Do not forget to read PART 2 of the interview…

Connecting Thane to Mumbai, Mulund has become a hotspot for property buyers, due to its all-round development. Located on the central line, Mulund is a developing suburb between Bhandup and Thane. During the ’60s, Mulund was a small settlement with very little population, which mostly consisted of middleclass families, as companies like Johnson & Johnson, Gabriel, Richardson and Cruddas established in Mulund. Mulund today has become a multi-linguistic suburb.

Mulund is divided into two parts - Mulund West and Mulund East. The West is comparatively more developed than the East. Mulund underwent a drastic change after 1990, as builders took notice of its potential and started floating new constructions. Nirmal Lifestyles came up with its first project Mayur Pankh in the year 1976-77 and gradually progressed with prestigious projects like Nirmal Lifestyle and City of Joy that completely changed the landscape of Mulund.

Mulund wins the cake in terms of infrastructure too, as it is centrally located and has easy access to Mumbai, Thane and even Navi Mumbai. Road connectivity through vast network of BEST buses and frequent train availability has benefited Mulund.

Fortunately, Mulund is blessed with greenery due to places like Yogi hills and Cyprus. A morning walk amidst the greens rejuvenates Mulund residents. The suburb is strategically planned, fulfilling the requirements of modern-day living. Looking at the phenomenal growth, some of the best educational institutes like Lokmanya Tilak English High School, St Pius, St Mary’s, Holy Angels have come up in the past few decades. Mulund boasts of good colleges like V. G. Vaze College, Vani Vidyalaya and Mulund College of Commerce.

Hospitals like ESIS, Municipal hospital and private hospitals like Dhanvantari, Upasani, Saidhan Hospital and high-end hospital like Wockhardt cater to medical needs. Mulund has religious places like Ambaji Dham, Santoshi Mata Mandir, Jain temple, to name a few. For entertainment purposes, Mulund has single screen theatres like Jai Ganesh, Mehul and multiplexes like R-Adlabs, PVR Cinema. Malls have become the Mecca for the cinegoers in Mulund. L.B.S Marg in Mulund can be called as the hub of malls, with huge malls like Nirmal Lifestyles and Runwal Mall. From restaurants like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut to trademark hotels like Vishwa Bharati, Vishwa Mahal, Mulund has everything to offer. Mulund also has some well-known clubs like the Rotary Club of Mulund.

The property market in Mulund is flourishing with ever growing malls and its connectivity. Recently, property  rates in Mulund range between Rs. 5,000 to 7,000 per. sqft. A number of huge residential and commercial projects are coming up. With the kind of construction and developments coming its way, Mulund surely looks to be the destination for future.