Real estate developer Prestige Estates Projects will focus on bolstering its presence in the Delhi-NCR market over the next year.
In an interview with businessline, Venkat K Narayana, CEO, Prestige Group, revealed that they are actively engaged in various projects spanning diverse segments to drive expansion in the region. Notably, Prestige achieved 56.6 per cent year-on-year growth, reaching ₹2,236 crore in revenue for the quarter ending September.
Based on the developments in the last one-two years, do you see the beginning of a new uptrend cycle in the real estate market?
Absolutely yes. In fact, the top-seven cities saw a sale of around 1,20,300 units in the last quarter. This is bigger than what we used to do pre-Covid; around 2019, the sector recorded sales of about 80,000 units a quarter, and this is good growth for the industry. Even the number of players has come down from where it was to maybe around 30 per cent.
The real estate sector has been seeing consolidation. Has it been completed, or is it still an ongoing process?
So, while there is a definite consolidation in our sector, complete filtration is yet to happen, and it will take some time.
As for your pan-India expansion, are there any new markets that you are venturing into?
As far as Mumbai is concerned, it is a very important market, and we do a lot of work in that market. In fact, we aim to have a presence across all our segments in the city. In addition, for the next 12 months, we’ll be fully focused on the Delhi-NCR region. We already have multiple projects across various segments in the pipeline, with some already under development while others are waiting for approval.
There was a strategy to create long-term monetisable assets. Have you been able to change the mix in terms of the segments?
Our strategy has always been to establish a dominant, leadership position and not a me-too sort of approach. Today, we are present in five key segments: office, retail, hospitality, services, and residential, and play by the potential of each sector. Just because we are big in residential, that should not be an excuse for not playing big in commercial.
Are there any plans for an international foray, given that quite a few Indian players have started looking at international opportunities?
Currently, the domestic market has a lot of potential for growth, and that said, we don’t see opportunities running dry here to look at a different market.
Moreover, there are opportunities everywhere, but our discipline is what to say yes to or what to say no to. For instance, now that we have understood the Mumbai market well, our next step will not be to jump to a new market; instead, it will be to play to the potential of the market.
The Indian market not only holds enough potential, but it is also easy to monitor, match expectations and so on. For now, we haven’t evaluated any opportunities.
Are you evaluating any opportunities in the areas of business adjacencies concerning the backward and forward integration of the business?
Our industry is all about opportunities and more opportunities. However, our focus remains on growing our core business, given that we are also in a real estate growth period.
So, while there are plenty of opportunities, and we are also looking to capitalise on some, such as we have an in-house construction company that does some construction, including door manufacturing. Plus, we also have a property management services business. However, our immediate focus remains on our core business expansion. Eventually, maybe 3–4 years later, we might look at more of backward and forward integration.