Pune charms with steady sector growth

Paranjape Schemes Construction Ltd highlights benefits of investing in Pune property with stable prices as the main perk

NRIs from the Gulf are increasingly looking at cities such as Pune, Bengaluru and Chennai, when investing in real estate, instead of the larger metros, says Shrikant Paranjape, Chairman, Paranjape Schemes Construction Ltd, a leading developer from Pune.
"I was in Dubai recently where I met some NRI investors who were keen on investing in India," says Paranjape. "My take was that  NRIs were keen on Pune and the other cities instead of Mumbai and the National Capital Region (NCR)."
According to Paranjape, who is also the President of the Pune metro chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), prices in Mumbai have been volatile over the years. "They jump crazily, sometimes by 50 per cent within a year, but there are huge oscillations as well when prices crash," he points out. "In Pune, property prices are stable and the growth is steady."
Located in close proximity to Mumbai - at a distance of less than 200 km, but brought closer, thanks to the expressway - Pune has seen a stable increase in price of properties of between 12 per cent and 17 per cent annually over the past few years, notes Paranjape. However, after the recent slowdown, prices rose by a mere three to five per cent.
Shashank Paranjape, the Managing Director of the group, says that prices in Pune have been stable for the past few years, but are expected to rise in 2018. "Prices have bottomed out and there is no further scope for them to go lower," he notes. 
Pune has tremendous prospects for growth of the real estate sector thanks to the influx of new companies into rapidly growing sectors including information technology, auto ancillaries and education, he adds.
"It is a very progressive city, the climate is good and water supply is also adequate," notes the Managing Director. "People from all over India and other parts of Maharashtra migrate to Pune because of the better quality of life."
The group's chairman says that demand for housing will continue to grow in India for several years. There are about 250 million families living in India and about 15 per cent of them can afford a new house. His group is catering to this segment.
The next major segment, representing 40 per cent of the market, is need-driven, not investment-driven. "We cater to the needs of both the segments," he adds.
The Paranjape group is involved in virtually every segment of the real estate sector - premium and luxury housing projects, office complexes, malls, multiplex facilities, IT parks and special economic zones.
The group is also a pioneer in providing housing for senior citizens. It currently has six facilities - under the Athashri brand - providing homes for 2,000 families comprising aged persons. Over the next two years, the group plans to expand its presence to 10 cities with facilities for senior citizens.
Interestingly, the group also has a senior citizen's home in Hayward in California, in close proximity to Silicon Valley and with access to three international airports - San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.
The facility was set up after many NRIs living in the area asked the Paranjapes to provide homes for their elderly folk, who found it difficult to travel to India every year. "Our brand is already well-known in the U.S. and we found good demand for homes for senior citizens there," says the Paranjape chairman.
According to the two top leaders of Paranjape group, in India there was a social stigma against moving elderly people to special homes for them. But this is disappearing rapidly, as a growing number of children are living abroad and are eager to ensure that their parents do not suffer in old age.
The Atashri facilities in India have also proved to be popular as the group goes out of its way to satisfy the elderly residents. For instance, when the demonetisation of the Indian rupee was done last year, the group ensured that banks where the senior citizens had their accounts would send representatives to the senior citizen complexes and enable the residents to carry out their transactions.

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