Piramal Realty seeks NRI buyers for Mumbai homes

Piramal Realty may be a relative newcomer in the Mumbai real estate circles, but with a backing of $434 million from global private equity stalwarts Warburg Pincus and Goldman Sachs, the developer is being talked about for all the right reasons.

The real estate arm of Piramal Group, Piramal Realty, is participating in the ongoing 18th edition of the Indian Property Show in Dubai. The developer is exhibiting its two flagship projects - Piramal Aranya in Byculla and Piramal Vaikunth in Thane - at the show for prospective NRI investors and end-users.

"Dubai is a key market for us. We have had approximately 10 to 12 per cent of sales from the Middle East market for our Byculla and Thane projects. We anticipate these numbers to show a rising trend," said Anand Piramal, executive director of Piramal Group.

"We also have a significant relationship with the city of Dubai. Robert Booth, former CEO of Emaar, is a member of our board of advisors. Also, many of our senior leadership team is from Dubai," Piramal added.

This expertise will keep Piramal Realty in good stead as it takes on the Mumbai market when demand has been slow to take off and plagued by inventory overhang. However, promoters claim there is a shortage of quality property in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, an area where Piramal Realty has marquee land parcels in localities such as Byculla, Kurla, Mulund and Thane.

Piramal Aranya, a 70-storey tower in Byculla, occupies seven acres, while Piramal Vaikunth, a collection of 14 towers in Thane, sits on 32 acres while its office complex in Kurla is spread across 16.5 acres of prime land in Kurla.

"Mumbai is a tough market for real estate. There is a dearth of quality development and we have seen there is a lot of potential for a high-quality product. For example, our Thane project, Piramal Vaikunth, received a great response with a sales volume of Rs2.5 billion to Rs3 billion in the pre-launch phase. We also recently sold a project in South Mumbai at a per square feet rate of Rs135,000. Hence, we can safely say that there is strong demand for quality and customer-centric projects in Mumbai," he explained.

The developer currently has 10 million sqft of real estate under development in projects located in and around Mumbai.

"All of our key construction approvals are in place and work will be under way across the bulk of our portfolio at some point in time during this year. The earliest delivery is expected for our corporate park at Kurla named Piramal Agastya. The delivery for phase one of this project is anticipated in under a year from now," said Piramal.

With a Mumbai-centric development strategy, Piramal Realty claims to have a presence across all market segments. "We have sold projects starting from Rs8 million in Thane to Rs1.25 billion in Worli. While land parcels are expensive in the city, we can provide the best value proposition as compared to others, in consideration to our prices," said Piramal.

Most of the top dollars paid by Goldman Sachs and Warburg Pincus will be used for future expansion of the company and acquire marquee land parcels in Mumbai for development. "We are looking at large land parcels which are clean, i.e., free from disputes, are of significant size and are in line with our vision for development."

The builder also has a scheme where the customer can return the home at a five per cent discount to the market value until possession, in case the client is not satisfied.

- deepthi@khaleejtimes.com

Deepthi Nair

I cover all things related to real estate in the UAE. Working as a print journalist in Dubai since 2008, I have reported on all the flashy new projects in town. Dubai's passion for setting new records continues to amaze me. I love to do stories that strike a chord with the average expatriate in the UAE. If you have any news related to your community or rents, you know who to get in touch with at Khaleej Times. When I am not working, I travel, catch up with friends, mall trawl, catch up on movies, explore new places in town or just unwind in a spa. Originally from India, I have been a journalist for more than 11 years. Language has been my forte right from school. That's me in a nutshell