Puravankara Limited

Ashish R. Puravankara, Managing Director
We have invested our time in testing technological tools in order to drive our operations and overcome the hurdles that came with the Covid-19 lockdown. We introduced our digital booking platform through which we were able to offer a site tour and booking options to customers in the comfort of their homes. In fact, the technologies pioneered by Puravankara have not just revolutionized construction practices but have also modernised the way people live at homes.

We may witness further consolidation of the market and only resilient developers will be able thrive in such an environment.
The pandemic has slowed down the entire economy of the world. Likewise, the real estate industry too has been impacted by the lockdown, which has disrupted the realty ecosystem. In the short term, things are yet to pick up pace and return to normal; there are some delays in the procurement of raw materials and the industry will take some time to get back on track to its projected growth rate. Until then, we will have to focus on restarting operations in a phase-wise manner to ensure the safety and well-being of the labour force and employees, who play an integral part in operations. Developers will have to innovate their strategies to grab the attention of the home buyers.

In the future however, we may witness further consolidation of the market and only resilient developers will be able thrive in such an environment. It will be imperative to introduce several interventions in terms of designs and operations in order to ensure the safety of the homebuyers.

The Government has been supportive of the real estate sector by announcing a 6-month extension in RERA deadlines, while the RBI has also taken measures to improve the liquidity by reducing the REPO rate by 40 basis points.
While the Government and RBI have taken quick decisions to infuse liquidity, few more concerns need to be addressed. For example, the RBI announced a reduction in the REPO rate for banks. However, several banks are yet to pass this benefit to people applying for loans. Despite the move being beneficial and much needed, the trickle-down effect is yet to be seen in home and personal loans availed by people.

The government has announced a `30,000 crore infusion for NBFCs and HFCs, which account for more than half of the lending that happens in the real estate sector. This move will encourage these financial institutions to lend more to people, which will benefit the sales in the sector.

The government should enable the PPP model (Public-Private Partnership) to further improve the infrastructure of the country. This will ease the burden on the government while also enabling employment across the country. Another important recommendation to the government would be to consider a single clearance window for projects, this would help projects start and finish on time without having to wait for multiple clearance. This would also help developers to maintain their cash-flow in distressed times such as this.

In the long run, the focus will be on rethinking the design of the home to make it even more of a sanctuary than it already is.
Builders will have to devise strategies to overcome all the issues in order to maintain the timelines of their projects. We at Puravankara have been monitoring the situation as it progressed. During the lockdown, we focused on strategizing and reinvigorating our operations post the lockdown. We also took immediate steps to ensure safety of all our workers at the labour camp. We initiated sanitization, provision of daily essentials and nutritious meals, and arranged yoga camps for the well-being of our workers.

In the long run, the focus will be on rethinking the design of the home to make them more of a sanctuary than it always was! We are in constant discussion with our national and international design partners to devise new schematics, on the project as well as apartment level, to make them self-sufficient to deal with similar situations; for example, the inclusion of quarantine zones in a project, meeting rooms in clubhouses, workstations, additional leisure or entertainment amenities such as mini-theatre or a play station, no-touch infrastructure etc.

The lockdown has pushed the real estate industry to becoming more reliant on technology, and this will soon be the new normal in the industry.
Puravankara Limited is pioneering into technologies that have not just revolutionized construction practices but have also modernised the way people live at homes, through technologies such as BluNex and Pre-Cast, to name a few. The group created an end-to-end booking platform called ‘BookMyHome’ for its premium affordable arm Provident Housing. The platform is aimed at attracting homebuyers who can search, access and book projects, with the click of few buttons. This has especially helped during the lockdown. We also scaled up our chat services and have observed an increased traction in online queries from new customers.

We are also the first realtors to e-launch two of our projects virtually. The build-up to the launch was where we unveiled one key feature of the project each day and received enquiries from over 20,000 potential customers. This is a good sign and will soon be the new normal in the industry.

Pre-Cast construction would be a solution for faster project completion and the best option for constructing affordable homes.
The amalgamation of real estate and technology has paid off every time. Without the support of advanced equipment, it is very difficult to enforce precision and efficiency. It will be a necessity for builders and developers to further rely on these tools and the support of OEMs to make up for the time lost during the lockdown. It will take a while before the industry can function at full capacity. In order to maintain the productivity, the use of technology will be imperative.

Technologies such as drone-mapping can enable quick geographical surveys with high precision. Likewise, Pre-Cast construction would be a solution for faster project completion and is the best solution for affordable homes.

FY2019-20 projects in hand & order book
Our launch pipeline across both our brands Puravankara and Provident Housing remain on track, as announced on December 2019 (Q3 FY 20). As per the scheduled timeline we launched two of our projects on 6th June - Purva Atmosphere and Provident Woodfield. In the past few months, we saw a steady rise in customer sentiment with home as their safe investment option. We believe this latent demand will grow further in the coming times; and we should see an upward tick as the year progresses.

Sr. No	Location/ Project Name	City	Development Type	Developable Area(msft)	Development Model
Puravankara Brand
1	Westend 2	Bengaluru	Residential	0.1	Joint Development
2	Bavdhan	Pune	Residential	0.31	Joint Development
3	Lalbagh	Bengaluru	Residential	0.21	Joint Development
4	Chembur	Mumbai	Residential	0.35	Owned
			Total	1.17
Provident Housing
1	Edapally	Cochin	Residential	0.54	Owned
2	Thane	Mumbai	Residential	1.63	Joint Development
3	Thirumazhsai	Chennai	Residential	3.81	Joint Venture
4	Kondwa	Pune	Residential	1.09	Joint Development
5	Provident Woodfield	Bengaluru	Plotted	0.49	Owned
			Total	7.56
			Grand Total	8.73
The launch dates will be flexible as per external exigencies. These launches were planned for FY21 and most of them will take place in the second half of the year.