The Hiranandani group is lining up around Rs 7,000 crore in five projects in and around the megalopolis in the next two fiscal years. In an interaction with Benn Kochuveedan, group chairman Niranjan Hiranandani says though the government push for improving the ease of doing business has been a success from the top-level, a lot needs to improve from the bottom-up levels where all industries face inordinate delays even today. An excerpt:
How has been your experience as a builder of iconic townships since the government pushed on improving the ease of doing business at the ground level? Has your life really changed as in being projected?
Of course, there is palpable change at the top level. But I will stick my neck out and say the desired changes, when looked at from a bottom-up level, is much to be wanted. A lot needs to change from the ground level and upwards. This is not my experience alone, this is what every other builder, every other industrialist, who are still flitting in and flitting out of the myriad government offices, face. Let me repeat, a lot has positively changed from the top for sure, because the prime minister himself has been driving it, but the actual change, which has to be at the ground level, which can really make the real difference, is still missing badly.
What are your suggestions so that there is actual ease of doing business?
My answer is that let the change happen at those levels who actually issue the permissions.
You have made a shift in your approach to building townships by tying up with a little-known Pune developer called Krisala for developing a posh residential township in the Pune IT hub of Hinjewadi? What is the rationale for this model? Will this be your model going forward?
My short answer is yes and no. But my long answer is that as the market evolves, we will also need to evolve. In the management of Krisala, I’ve seen the urge which I had 25-30 years ago. So this is a win-win for both of us. I have been owning this 105 acres since 2008 and wanted to make it as big and or even bigger than my Powai, Thane or Panvel projects; but could not make it happen so far. So in Krisala I found a group of young people who also share my vision of building large townships.
Most of my upcoming projects are still planned for the big way that we have been doing our projects. We have three projects – Oshiwara and Versova in the northwestern suburbs will be joint development with existing residents and Wakaleshwar in south Mumbai will be a redevelopment--planned in Mumbai.
The biggest of all will be the one planned in Alibaug which will be a tiny residential-cum-hospitality venture that will come up on sprawling 250 acres across the eastern bay, where we are planning at least Rs 2,000 crore investment. It should be firmed over the next six to nine months.
What are the capex plans for these upcoming projects?
All these five projects, including the one in Hinjewadi, should consume Rs 6,000-7,000 crore over the course of their construction. We’re sitting on 2,000 acres, spread across many cities—the biggest is the 350-acre plot in Sindhudurg in southwestern Maharashtra, 250 acres in Talegaon near Pune which is 50% owned by Blackstone, 250 acres in Alibaug, 105 acres in Hinjewadi and the rest elsewhere in cities like Nashik, Bengaluru, Chennai etc. So the developmental potential is huge for us.
Why do you remain a private company? Any plans for a market debut?
Not at all. I don’t want someone else, say some foreign investor sitting a day’s flight away, to decide when and how I should be happy. It’s as simple as that. Having said that, yes, we have, rather my son who heads our data centre business, filed for a Nasdaq listing.
You had made a big announcement some years back to enter the data centre business with huge investments running into Rs 10,000 crore. How is it doing now?
Sorry, I can’t answer anything on Yotta. For one, we are under a strict silence period having applied for the American regulator’s (SEC) approval for a Nasdaq listing a few months back, and for another I don’t handle that business at all. It’s fully managed by son Darshan. Sorry till we get the SEC approval they can’t talk.